Cape Town – If no drastic action is taken against unaffordable cancer and TB drugs, the country will be counting body bags like it was at war, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Tuesday.

“Anybody who is desperate to remain alive and tries to obtain treatment at current costs will end up in poverty,” he said.

Motsoaledi was presenting his budget vote in Parliament, where he bemoaned the high costs of medical care, using cancer drugs as an example.

“Just as the price of ARVs were unaffordable then, cancer drugs are devilishly unaffordable today.

“Two years ago, I was regarded as exaggerating, or outright insane by some, when I spoke openly against pharmaceutical companies that were planning a price onslaught against us. Today, that onslaught, which I had foreseen, is here with us,” he said.

He called for the same solidarity that was employed to reduce the price of ARVs, to be used in the fight against non-communicable diseases and drug resistant TB.