A CRITICAL machine used in the early detection of cancer or breast diseases at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals broke down 15 years ago, highlighting challenges besetting its cancer treatment unit.
Critical equipment breakdowns and a lack of resources are severely limiting Parirenyatwa’s ability to provide adequate cancer treatment, NewsDay heard.
Parirenyatwa chief medical officer Tsitsi Magure said this before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health during its visit to the public hospital yesterday.
“We are unable to offer pap smear due to lack of lab support,” Magure said.
“Our own mammography machine has been down for more than 15 years and we have not been able to buy and replace it.”
Mammography is an X-ray imaging method used to examine the breast for early detection of cancer and other breast diseases.
Magure added: “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 these three radiotherapy machines are not working and we have not been able to offer radiotherapy in our unit.”
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“The CT-scan machines are also down and efforts are underway to repair them."
She said the unit had become too small to accommodate an increasing number of cancer patients.
According to experts, cancer is set to overtake HIV and Aids as the leading cause of death in Zimbabwe.
In many cases, the disease is diagnosed late, and with very few oncologists in public hospitals, most cancer patients lose their lives prematurely.
According to the Health and Child Care ministry, cancer remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality with over 5 000 new cases diagnosed and over 1 500 deaths per year.
Cancer treatment services are centralised in Harare and Bulawayo, posing challenges related to transport and accommodation costs for those requiring treatment.
