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At the moment the country only has two Government run treatment centres, Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Cancer Association of Zimbabwe’s knowledge manager Mr Tafadzwa Carlington Chigariro said a majority of cancer patients were facing difficulties in accessing treatment.
“Cancer treatment is highly centralised in Zimbabwe. Diagnostic infrastructure in the country is limited with important early diagnostic facilities like pathology only available in Bulawayo and Harare. There is a need to expand service coverage to provinces and districts in order to ease pressure at these two centres,” said Mr Chigariro.
“The biggest challenge is that most of the treatment machinery is old and needs to be replaced. We are glad that the Government has started working on that. We will continue to advocate and lobby Government to come up with solid policies on cancer and to put in place proper budget allocations.”
Of late cancer patients have been struggling to get treatment after the radiotherapy machines in the two hospitals broke down.
Last week Finance Minister Tendai Biti announced that Treasury has availed $10 million for upgrading and repair of cancer treatment machinery in the two institutions.
Although Mpilo chief executive officer Dr Wedu Ndebele could not be reached for comment as he was reported to be out of office, senior officials at the institution said efforts were still under way to install the new machines.
“We are waiting for the installation of new machinery. The old one is constantly on breakdown,” said the official who preferred anonymity.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals public relations officer Mrs Jane Dadzi said the machinery at her institution was now working.
“The machinery is now working. The problem is that it is old and is always consistently on breakdown,” she said, adding: “We have something on the way but I cannot tell you the details of what we have bought.”
Mr Chigariro urged members of the public to make early cancer diagnosis and seek treatment on time.
He said on average Zimbabwe records 7 000 new cancer cases every year. Of these between 700 to 1 500 are treated with radiotherapy.
The radiotherapy machine attacks cancerous cells in the body through emitting rays that kill the cancer cells.
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body, which are also called malignant cells.
Cancer treatment varies depending on the type of cancer and its stage. The stage of a cancer refers to how much it has grown and whether the tumour has spread from its original location.
If the cancer is confined to one location and has not spread, the most common treatment approach is surgery to cure the cancer. If the tumour has spread to local lymph nodes only, sometimes these can be removed. If surgery cannot remove all of the cancer, the options for treatment include radiation chemotherapy or both.
Some cancers require a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
Cancers common in Zimbabwe include cervical, breast, prostate, non Hodgkin lymphoma and skin cancers.
Online Reporter