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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, [email protected]

HEALTH and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora, has said work to repair radiotherapy machine used in cancer treatment at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo is underway with the machine expected to be running soon.

He said the Government injected US$2, 3 million last October to fix the cancer machines, whose perennial malfunctioning has left cancer patients desperate without any access.

The other machine is housed at the Parirenyatwa Group  of Hospitals in Harare and these two machines are the only ones available in public health institutions.

USD: Image taken from Shutterstock

In a recent  interview, Dr Mombeshora said: “We contacted the people who supplied the radiotherapy machines, they came and made their assessments saying if we pay them US$2,3 million, within three months they would have sorted out the machines.

“This money was paid last year in October, but now we are hearing stories that there are other ancillary machines like the chillers that need to be fixed.

“We heard that at Mpilo, the people are working on it and we hope that the radiotherapy machine will be up soon. 

In Harare, we have asked the engineers to also assess and I am happy to hear that the machine is working, meaning that soon this one at Mpilo will be up and running.

“Our people will then be able to access the life saving service, which had been inaccessible.”

Mpilo Central Hospital

The development comes at a time when experts have bemoaned that a majority of cancer patients present themselves late, when nothing much can be done to help them cure the disease, which accounts for 2 500 deaths in Zimbabwe annually.

Statistics from the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe (CAZ), indicate that the most frequently occurring cancers among Zimbabweans of all races were cervix uteri (21 percent prostate (11 percent), breast (eight percent) non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (five percent), oesophagus (four percent), Kaposi sarcoma (KS) (four percent), stomach (three percent) and liver (three percent).

Radiotherapy machines are used to treat a wide variety of cancers — including brain, breast, lung and prostate cancers.

The machines can be used in combination with other ways of treating cancer, for  example, surgery and chemotherapy.