Sh38b machines ‘only for screening’
What you need to know:
- It also puts Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on the spot for promising to set up comprehensive cancer treatment centres in the counties at the 94 hospitals which will benefit from the equipment upgrade.
- Instead, the project provides for the leasing of radiology machines that are purely used for diagnosis. A document issued by the Ministry of Health shows that the radiology equipment that will be leased include a CR system, a digital general X-Ray unit, a mammography unit, mobile X-Ray Unit, a C-Arm, an OPG unit (used to view the mouth, teeth and bones of the upper jaw) and an ultra-sound unit.
The Ministry of Health’s Sh38 billion plan to equip county hospitals does not seem to cater for radiotherapy machines, the Nation has learnt.
The massive project aimed at equipping 94 county hospitals with modern medical equipment is missing the key cancer treatment machines that would have offered relief to thousands queuing at Kenyatta National Hospital’s radiotherapy department for treatment.
Instead, the project provides for the leasing of radiology machines that are purely used for diagnosis. A document issued by the Ministry of Health shows that the radiology equipment that will be leased include a CR system, a digital general X-Ray unit, a mammography unit, mobile X-Ray Unit, a C-Arm, an OPG unit (used to view the mouth, teeth and bones of the upper jaw) and an ultra-sound unit.
“All that equipment is purely used for diagnosing the disease. None of it is treatment equipment. That means that county hospitals will only be equipped to diagnose the patients, then they will have to refer them to KNH for the treatment,” said Frank Matoke, a biomedical engineering technologist affiliated with the Association of Medical Engineers in Kenya.
This dashes the hopes of thousands of cancer patients across the country who had expected that the decentralised cancer care units would save them the long trip to Nairobi and the agonising wait to use the only two radiotherapy machines at KNH.
JAMES MACHARIA
It also puts Cabinet Secretary James Macharia on the spot for promising to set up comprehensive cancer treatment centres in the counties at the 94 hospitals which will benefit from the equipment upgrade.
During the launch of the Sh38 billion project, CS Macharia promised: “We shall now decentralise cancer treatment from KNH and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to the selected 94 hospitals countrywide.
The 6 – 12 months queues at these national teaching and referral hospitals should be a thing of the past. The county hospitals will be equipped with digital X-rays, mammography, ultrasound units and other radiology equipment. The total cost of these cancer treatment equipment will be Sh21.8 billion.”
General Electric said it has been contracted to provide only cancer diagnostic equipment.
“Tender did not include radiotherapy equipment; only screening and diagnostic equipment as advertised,” said Mr Isaiah Okoth, Head of Healthcare at GE.
Contacted, Mr Macharia said: “The radiotherapy equipment will be acquired through a Public Private Partnership funded by the World Bank and will be rolled out in July.”
The initiative will be in four centres - Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nairobi with each estimated to cost Sh1 billion.
The only two radiotherapy machines at a public hospital are at KNH, both of which are in state of disrepair after many years of use.
