Hospital radiation machine out of action

TREATMENT for several patients has been interrupted for weeks due to a radiation machine at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital being left broken.

But while the Eastern Cape Department of Health insists patients are being treated in the private sector, several have contacted The Herald disputing this.

They all said they were still waiting to hear from the department about what they should do to seek alternative treatment.

Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said a supplier was waiting for parts from overseas to fix the machine.

“We believe the parts arrived yesterday [Tuesday],” he said.

Kupelo said the radiation treatment for state patients had been outsourced for the next 35 days to a private company which would treat 45 to 50 patients a day on Tuesdays.

But hospital sources said a meeting was only held yesterday to discuss the proposed outsourcing.

Patients, who asked not to be identified as they fear this will impact on their treatment at the hospital, said they were waiting to be called by the hospital with a plan for further treatment.

One woman said her mother had brain cancer and needed urgent treatment.

Kupelo said scans were also not yet available at the hospital.

The hospital’s old scanner could not be repaired and construction on a new bunker to fit the new scanner had not yet been completed.

He said they expected to start scans again after next month.

“The equipment is being installed and will be commissioned on November 6. The training of staff will be done between November 6 and 20. The final handover is expected by the end of November,” Kupelo said.

Meanwhile, the Pink Drive cancer screening programme will be in Port Elizabeth next week, from October 23 to 27.

The drive’s mobile unit offers 25 to 30 mammograms a day, 40-50 pap smears, 100-150 clinical breast examinations and 60 prostate cancer screening tests.

It will be at the following clinics next week: Motherwell Health Centre on Monday, Letitia Bam Centre on Tuesday, Chatty Community Centre on Wednesday, Walmer Gqebera Community Centre on Thursday and Greenbushes Clinic on Friday.