After 2-year wait, Uganda gets its new cancer machine

New cases dropping in deadly cholera outbreak in Zambia

KAMPALA, Jan 22, (Agencies): Uganda’s only radiotherapy machine was officially replaced Friday, nearly two years after the previous one broke down, giving hope to cancer patients who had been denied a crucial tool against the disease.

The failure of the old machine in March 2016 caused a public outcry and was seen as symbolising the deterioration of Uganda’s medical services.

Since 1995, Mulago Hospital in Kampala had become a hub for treating cancer patients across east Africa, many of them coming from countries lacking radiotherapy equipment.

On Friday, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the new $815,000 (664,000-euro) Cobalt-60 machine, housed in a concrete bunker at the hospital, was part of a “vision of becoming the East African centre of excellence in the management of oncology.”

Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which helped install the new machine, said Friday’s commissioning was a “major cause of celebration”.

The agency and the Ugandan government each paid half of the cost of the machine.

“In 28 countries in Africa there is no cancer machine. (Patients) cannot be diagnosed and they cannot be treated,” said Amano.

Dr Jackson Orem, director of the Uganda Cancer Institute, told AFP that about 5,000 cases are referred to the institute each year.

Many patients show up with cancer that is already at an advanced stage.

The new machine is capable of treating up to 120 people a day.

Zambia has struggled to contain one of its deadliest cholera outbreaks in years, sending soldiers into a slum last week to keep order, collaborating with the World Health Organization on a vaccination program and even declaring a week of prayer.

Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya this week said there has been a “drastic reduction” in the number of new cases in the outbreak which has killed more than 70 people in the southern African nation since October, most of them in the capital, Lusaka. The provision of fresh water, education in waste disposal and personal hygiene and other preventive measures are being taken, the minister said.

“The cholera outbreak is being contained,” Chilufya said.

WHO is assisting with the vaccination of Lusaka residents against cholera after the delivery of enough doses to immunize one million people. There are plans to vaccinate another one million people in “cholera hotspots” nationwide later this year, WHO said.

The United States has provided chlorine drops to purify 120 million liters of water, and six experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in Zambia to work with local health officials, the US Embassy said. A team from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has also traveled to Zambia, treating cholera victims at an emergency clinic set up in a Lusaka stadium.

Last week, the Zambian military moved in after some residents in the densely populated Lusaka slum of Kanyama rioted over the removal of market vendors, a measure designed to improve hygiene. The army deployed after police struggled to control rioters who destroyed property and looted shops.