Beaufort West patients spend ten hours on the road for dialysis in George

Three days a week, a group of patients from Beaufort West in the Central Karoo spends about ten hours on the road to reach dialysis and cancer treatment in George, and the Western Cape health department says it has no immediate plans to bring those services closer.

One of them, Phoebe Stephenson, told GroundUp that she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease in April 2025. She now travels to the George National Renal Care Centre every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The trip is nearly 300km and about five hours each way, on top of roughly four hours on the dialysis machine.

"It's five hours to the hospital," she said, describing the journeys as exhausting.

A ride on the HealthNet bus

The patients travel on HealthNet, the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness's non-emergency patient transport service. Stephenson told GroundUp that the bus carries her and seven other Beaufort West patients to George on her treatment days. Some of them are on chemotherapy and arrange to stay overnight because they cannot face the return drive on the same day.

Her husband, Juan, said he used to ride along as her escort because she has had complications after dialysis, but a transport supervisor stopped this.

After a session on 12 October, he said, she was admitted to a hospital in Mossel Bay. She was alone, and no paperwork could be completed for her. Staff stabilised her, and he reached her the next day.

What the department says

Department spokesperson Nadia Ferreira told GroundUp that the department "empathises with patients from Beaufort West" who travel long distances for dialysis.

She said specialised treatment such as dialysis is offered at tertiary hospitals, where patients are given appointments and transport is provided through HealthNet. The district hospital in Beaufort West does not offer dialysis, and "there are no immediate plans to introduce these services at the hospital". The department said it is open to exploring partnerships with private facilities.

According to the department, its Central Karoo division transported 962 patients to George between 1 January and 30 September this year. Five of them needed regular transport three times a week for dialysis.

The department's figure of five dialysis patients is lower than the eight people Stephenson described on the bus. GroundUp did not explain the gap, which may be because the bus also carries patients for chemotherapy and other appointments.

Why distance matters for dialysis

People with kidney failure who rely on haemodialysis usually need treatment several times a week for the rest of their lives, unless they receive a transplant. Each session clears waste and excess fluid that the kidneys can no longer remove. Missing sessions can quickly become dangerous.

That schedule is what makes distance so punishing. A patient who spends ten hours travelling and four hours on a machine three times a week has little time left for work, family or recovery.

For now, the department's answer for Central Karoo patients is a seat on the bus to George rather than a service in Beaufort West.