Critical cancer treatment machines at Zimbabwe’s largest referral medical facility, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, are not working.
According to NewsDay, cancer equipment breakdowns and a lack of resources are severely limiting Parirenyatwa Hospital’s ability to provide adequate treatment for cancer machines.
During the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health’s visit to Parirenyatwa Hospital on Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer Tsitsi Magure revealed that the mammography machine broke down 15 years ago. She said:
Our mammography machine has been down for more than 15 years and we have not been able to buy and replace it.
A mammogram machine is a specialised medical device used for mammography, which is the imaging technique used to examine the human breast.
This imaging technique is critical for the early detection of cancer and other breast diseases. Added Magure:
We have three radiotherapy machines which are very old and they are due for replacement. We have one machine which treats cervical cancer
Unfortunately, all three radiotherapy machines are not working and we have not been able to offer radiotherapy in our unit.
The CT-scan machines are also down and efforts are underway to repair them.
She also said the hospital’s cancer unit had become too small to accommodate an increasing number of cancer patients.
According to the Ministry of Health and Childcare, cancer remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality with over 5 000 new cases diagnosed and over 1 500 deaths per year.
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