THE repair of radiotherapy machines at Parirenyatwa and
Mpilo hospitals has begun following the release of about US$70 000 by the
Government.
South African engineers are working on two of the three
machines at Parirenyatwa, after which they will proceed to Mpilo Central
Hospital in Bulawayo.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals spokesperson Mr Lainos
Dhire said the engineers had given them up to next week to complete the work on
the two machines, a linear accelerator DMX and 600C.
“Engineers from South Africa are now on site and are
already repairing the radiotherapy machines. The spares that we were expecting
from Belgium and United States of America were delivered to the hospital during
the weekend.
“We expect that the machines should be working by next
week,” said Mr Dhire. Parirenyatwa Radiotherapy Centre stopped operating
completely last month following the breakdown of its last operational machine.
Similarly, machines at Mpilo Central Hospital have been
down for some months now. Mpilo last offered radiotherapy services in November
last year, a situation that saw patients being referred to Parirenyatwa.
Curative services principal director in the Ministry of
Health and Child Care Dr Sydney Makarau said Mpilo was finalising work on
installing an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) machine, which was bought
sometime last year.
Dr Makarau said once that work is completed, the same
engineers working at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals will be expected to
commence repairs at Mpilo Central Hospital.
“We are hoping to get feedback on progress so far in terms
of installing the UPS at Mpilo after which engineers will go and repair the
radiotherapy machines,” said Dr Makarau.
The UPS machine enables patients to have radiation sessions
continuously without the challenge of power interruptions from the local power
supplier.
Without the UPS machine, radiotherapy machines were prone
to breakdowns due to power cuts.
Radiotherapy treatment uses high doses of radiation to kill
cancer cells and shrink tumours and also damages the DNA within cancer cells.
Herald
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