Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican health minister, Ussene Isse, on Monday announced the reintroduction of radiotherapy services in Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), the country’s largest health facility, after 15 months in which cancer patients could not be treated with radiotherapy because of equipment failure.
The radiotherapy service at HCM was introduced in 2019. The construction and equipping of the hospital’s oncology section cost 17 million dollars. The HCM became the only public health facility in the country providing radiotherapy.
The Minister told reporters that during the time that the service was interrupted, cancer patients faced difficult moments as their treatment had to be postponed, which worsened their clinical condition.
Isse revealed that several deaths were recorded during the period the equipment was out of order.
“We are resuming treatment to patients to save more lives. Please, be vigilant so that this treatment continues for a long time and we don’t have situations like the one we experienced. It was very difficult for me. The radiotherapy machine is used to fight cancer cells or prevent them from multiplying”, he said.
For his part, the Director of the HCM, Mouzinho Saíde, said that about 200 cancer patients are waiting for radiotherapy, and the machine’s breakdown had resulted in serious complications for patients with advanced cancer.
“Over the last 15 months, patients have not been able to benefit from this treatment. The lack of this service, in fact, causes significant complications for some patients who need treatment, especially those in more advanced stages”, he said.
According to Mouzinho, to repair the machine over two million dollars (31,300 dollars at the current exchange rate) had been required.
“This service is quite expensive, which is why repairing it wasn’t easy. The country’s internal capacity to maintain the equipment is limited, as we often need to have teams coming from abroad”, he said.
“There is a need to establish maintenance agreements with companies that can provide highly qualified services, so that we don’t have problems like the ones we’ve just seen”, he added.
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