Health Reporter
ZIMBABWE has invested a total US$30 million raised through the sugar tax on cancer machines in a development that will go a long way to ease health services delivery among patients affected by the world’s deadliest illness.
Cancer poses a significant and growing threat in Zimbabwe, marked by rising cases, high mortality (especially for women), late-stage diagnoses due to poor access to screening/treatment, resource limitations (staff, equipment), and lifestyle/dietary shifts increasing risk, necessitating urgent national plans for prevention, early detection, and improved care to manage the escalating burden.
At least 5 000 cancer cases are diagnosed annually making the need for investments in machinery more important.
Speaking to a state run weekly newspaper Health and Child Care Minister ,Dr Douglas Mombeshora confirmed that the procurement process is now complete and that suppliers have already begun manufacturing the machines.
“We completed the procurement process; the Minister of Finance (Economic Development and Investment Promotion) paid the deposit that was required — that is 20 percent — and the machines are already being manufactured,” he said.
“Some of the machines, one of the companies that are supplying the low-energy machines, have already completed them.”
The Government, Dr Mombeshora said, will dispatch a team of specialists in early January to conduct a pre-shipment inspection.
Once the machines arrive, installation will begin at the two referral hospitals while the older units are redeployed to establish new treatment centres.
“Back home here, we have started the decommissioning process,” he said.
“One new machine will be installed at Mpilo and another at Parirenyatwa. The old machine at Mpilo is being moved to Gweru so we can establish a new cancer treatment centre there. We will start with the old machine as we build capacity.”
He added that the older Parirenyatwa machine will either go to Chinhoyi or Masvingo, with the latter receiving strong consideration because of its emerging medical school, which could use the equipment for training purposes.
“The next phase will also be the decommissioning of the equipment at Parirenyatwa, and we plan to either put it in Chinhoyi hospital or in Masvingo,” he said.
“But I was suggesting that we put it in Masvingo since there is a new medical school that is coming up there, maybe to help in training . . .”
The establishment of radiotherapy services in Gweru and either Masvingo or Chinhoyi will represent a major milestone in Zimbabwe’s efforts to decentralise specialised healthcare.
