Treasury to disburse US$2.4 million towards the repair of cancer machines

TREASURY is set to disburse US$2,4 million towards the repair of cancer machines at Mpilo Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.

This was revealed during a tour of the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care this Thursday.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care which was at Mpilo Central Hospital earlier this week, toured Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals this Thursday to assess service delivery with regards to cancer and heart disease patients, focusing mainly on the paediatric wards.

While Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals has sufficient chemotherapy drugs, it is the radiotherapy machines that require repair and general servicing, a situation which has seen the treasury allocating US$2.4 million for the exercise.

“You might be aware that our linear accelerators which are the cancer treatment machines have been down hence we had to go through a rigorous exercise to make sure that they are repaired so that patients who need radiotherapy services can be treated.

“Right now engagements with Varian which repairs and services the machines have resulted in an agreement that the machines will be repaired in the next few weeks with the disbursement of funds from the treasury. This will also come with a three-year service agreement or warranty so that they are fully serviced,” said the Acting Chief Medical Officer at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Dr Aspect Maunganidze.

Speaking soon after the tour, Acting Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Child Care Honourable Daniel Molokele said the intervention is a step in the right direction.

“When we visited Mpilo and now Parirenyatwa we have learnt a lot and the big message for us is that as a committee and as the ministry we can do more. We can avoid needless deaths. Some of the repair work that is needed is not very expensive so that’s something we will push for to make sure the machines are not offline,” he said.

The funds will go towards the repair and general maintenance of the three cancer machines at Parirenyatwa and two at Mpilo Central Hospital, a move expected to reduce the burden on cancer patients who rely on public hospitals for treatment.