By ADRIAN MWANZA
HUNDREDS of Breast Cancer patients at the University Teaching Hospital UTH have pressed the panic button and has called on government to intervene in fixing the medical Linear Accelerator which has been down for over a year.
One of the patients who wanted to remain anonymous said the machine had been down for some time and that patients had even made efforts to get hold of the ministry of Health to intervene.
She said most cancer patients were having relapses because they were failing to have their radiation therapy and that having a similar operation abroad was costly and that most people could not afford.
“The problem is that the similar procedure abroad is very expensive and ranges between K20, 000 to K200, 000 in countries like Tanzania and South Africa,” the source said.
Meanwhile Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary in charge of technical services Professor Luckson Kasonka said that he was not aware about the breakdown of the Linear accelerator.
Professor Kasonka said he will carry out a fact finding mission to ascertain the extent of the problem and ensure that the machine was fixed. He said time was of the essence and that government would intervene to ensure that no lives are lost.
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