Radiation is used to treat at least 50% of all cancer
cases. It can be either curative or palliative, depending on the stage and
prognosis of the disease.
The radiotherapy machines at Parirenyatwa are said to have
been down for the past 18 days, with authorities frantically trying to bring in
foreign engineers and the required spares to repair them.
Stranded patients who require the services are now
vulnerable to further spread of the cancerous cells, as well as suffering
immense pain.
Lovemore Makurirofa from the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe
said interruption of cancer treatment was a major drawback in the recovery of
patients.
“It is critical that when radiotherapy is commenced, it
should not be interrupted. The breaking down of the machines means that there
may be certain cancer patients who were on treatment, but of which treatment
will be now interrupted. The results are that it will give an opportunity for
the cancer to spread,” Makurirofa said.
“Radiotherapy relieves pain by shrinking the cancer cells,
and so without the machines, it means many patients are experiencing a lot of
pain, especially those on palliative care,” he further explained that patients
would face a lot of emotional challenges.
“They require a lot of counselling in order to understand
this predicament.”
This is not the first time that the machines have broken
down. Over the years, this critical service has been interrupted despite the
fact that Parirenyatwa is one of the country’s two major referral centres for
cancer patients.
Mpilo Hospital is the other centre, but its machines also
face similar challenges and patients often travel to Harare for radiotherapy.
Parirenyatwa Hospital spokesperson Lenos Dhire said: “We
had an interruption in the provision of radiotherapy services from January 17,
2022 due to breakdown of equipment.”
He said provision of radiotherapy was key to holistic
cancer management, thus the hospital and the parent ministry were seized with
the matter.
“Concerted efforts are underway to ensure that the required
spares and the foreign engineers are urgently brought in to fix the problem.
The spares and engineers to fix the machines are not available locally‚” Dhire
said.
For years, health stakeholders have implored authorities to
ensure there is a local technician to repair the machines instead of depending
on foreign skills.
“We hope to restore the services as soon as possible. The
hospital is, however, still providing all other services with regards to cancer
treatment as guided by our specialist oncologists,” Dhire said.
Radiotherapy may be used in the early stages of cancer or
after it has started to spread, and is considered as the most effective cancer
treatment after surgery. Newsday
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