Faith Mhandu
Hundreds of cancer patients are at risk as the only radiotherapy machine at Parirenyatwa Hospital has broken down amid reports that the country has no qualified engineer to repair it.

The engineer who regularly repairs the machine is said to be based in South Africa and has not indicated when he will be jetting in to attend to the problem.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals public relations officer Mrs Jane Dadzi confirmed that the machine is down.
“The radiotherapy machine is not working. I am not sure of the period it has not been operational, but I can safely say that it has been down for some weeks now.

“However, I am not in a position to tell who services the machine as that information can only be accessed from our technical department,” she said.
Mrs Dadzi conceded that the breakdown of the machine has negatively impacted on the treatment of cancer patients, noting that Parirenyatwa and Mpilo hospitals are the only Government institutions that offer radiotherapy treatment.

“The majority of Zimbabweans rely on Government hospitals since cancer treatment is very expensive and very few can afford private hospitals,” she said.
Last month the machine at Mpilo Hospital was also reportedly dysfunctional, a development that saw all cancer patients in need of radiotherapy treatment being referred to Parirenyatwa Hospital.

The radiotherapy machine attacks cancer cells in the body by emitting rays that kill the cells and the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe says the breakdown of the machine at Parirenyatwa has the same effects as those of stopping an HIV patient from taking anti-retroviral drugs.
“Patients are suffering continued pain emotionally and physically. It is not easy to make a decision to start on radiotherapy and once a person has made that decision the hospital should not let patients down,” said CAZ general manager Mrs Junior Mabvu.

Zimbabwe records 70 000 new cancer cases annually.