Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital in Bulawayo has completed the construction and installation of an uninterrupted power supply room that will see cancer patients from the southern region receiving undisturbed radiotherapy services at the health institution.
Prior to the construction of the power supply room, the radiotherapy unit experienced continuous breakdowns of machinery due to incessant power cuts forcing patients to travel to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare for medical care.
The hospital’s chief executive officer, Mr Leonard Mabandi, said the latest development would bring relief to patients.
“We are quite happy and excited that the uninterrupted power supply room is now complete, the equipment has been installed, the batteries have been connected and everything is functioning,” he said.
Mr Mabandi said the hospital will engage the contractor, Varian, for the servicing of radiotherapy equipment. The company had earlier declined the contract in the absence of uninterrupted power supply.
“So, we are excited that this thing is now in place and is going to make our equipment run smoothly without the power outage. Our machines will be safe unlike previously where each time there was a power outage there would be problems and the machines would start malfunctioning and all the related challenges and we hope that all that is now history,” he said.
Mr Mabandi said uninterrupted power supply batteries would protect radiotherapy equipment which gives services to cancer patients.
“And so, we are hoping that now we are going to have little downtime as compared to previous times where the machines would break down more frequently than being up. The downtime was more than the uptime which meant that the patients who required services from that department would sometimes not get it,” he said.
Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya expressed joy at the development.
“I’m very happy that this happened here at Mpilo. It’s quite a massive investment because the batteries on their own cost US$100 000. There was a quite a lot of money involved in the construction of that room which has specialised air conditioning and so forth including flooring. It shows that if we are development minded, we can achieve more,” said Dr Ngwenya.
He said cancer patients will benefit more as they would not need to travel long distances for treatment.
Dr Ngwenya said due to interruptions in power supply, machines would breakdown while patients were receiving treatment forcing the hospital to abort providing critical medication.
“This inconvenienced a lot of people here as there are only two cancer treatment centres in the country —one at Parirenyatwa and this one. This is a vital installation and we need to safeguard it.
“This will help with the patients care because it means the machines will be continuously working and people under cancer treatment don’t need interruptions at all. Once you have started on the machines you should complete your course,” said Dr Ngwenya.
“Before this you would find that people were just having a week or two then the machine breaks down then you wait and the cancer comes back much heavier on you. Now with this uninterrupted power supply it means people will continue with their treatment and be cured. That is why I’m so happy and excited with this development.” — @nqotshili
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