CANCER machines at Mpilo Central Hospital stopped functioning in 2021, leaving patients stranded, lawmakers heard this week.
This emerged during a tour of the hospital by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chaired by Daniel Molokele on Monday.
Clinical director Solwayo Ngwenya confirmed that the last time Mpilo performed radiation treatment was in 2021.
He said the ministry was aware of the situation.
“The machines stopped working three years ago, in 2021. I wrote a letter to the ministry. They are aware,” he said.
Legislators were told that the machines are not manufactured in Zimbabwe and local technicians cannot service them, Citizens Coalition for Change Emakhandeni-Luveve legislator Descent Bajila said.
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“This is mainly because the machines are not locally manufactured and Zimbabwe does not have maintenance contracts with the suppliers,” Bajila said.
“Zimbabwe does not have internal capacity for maintenance and supplier technicians hired to fix upon breakdown insist that the machines need an uninterrupted power supply system in order for them to work. We don't have UPS.”
In 2021, Mpilo installed a US$100 000 uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system for the radiotherapy unit.
However, according to the hospital’s chief medical officer Narcisius Dzvanga, engineers claim that the UPS is too powerful for the machines.
Adding to the woes, the CT-scan has been out of service since October 2023 due to a software issue requiring German engineers.
Local attempts to resolve the problem have been unsuccessful.
Bajila said there was a need to ensure cancer machines are produced locally.
“The introduction of School Business Units in line with the Education 5.0 thrusts should see these products being produced by primary and secondary schools across the country,” Bajila said.
“Our universities must produce cancer treatment machines, dialysis machines, motor vehicle engines. Through our lithium, our universities must produce the batteries we need for uninterrupted power supply systems.”