Mozambique: Radiotherapy equipment once again damaged after two months

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Mozambique: Radiotherapy equipment once again damaged after two months

2:53 CAT | 18 Nov 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo via AIM]

Mozambican health minister, Ussene Isse, has announced that radiotherapy equipment is once again damaged as result of electrical failure that occurred in Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), the country’s largest health facility.

This means that cancer patients cannot be treated with radiotherapy because of equipment failure. The service had been reintroduced two months ago after 15 months out of service.

READ: Mozambique’s only radiotherapy machine to be back in operation at Maputo Central Hospital within days – Watch

Mozambique: Radiotherapy services resume after 15 months

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.

According to Isse, the problem is being resolved and that the government is committed to restoring the service promptly.

“The failure occurred due to a power surge, which damaged a circuit board responsible for connecting the machine’s components. We have a circuit board that connects equipment to plan where to administer radiation. The malfunction destroyed this board, which was not available in the country. We had to order it from abroad, it has already arrived in Maputo”, he said.

“Technical teams are already working intensively to restore the service. There is no rest. We must return this treatment to the Mozambican people as urgently as possible”, he added.

The minister said that “I don’t like to set a timeframe, because that creates unnecessary pressure. But I can guarantee that this malfunction is different from the previous one and has a solution. We believe it will be resolved soon.”

Since that most of our population cannot afford treatment abroad, he said,” we will do everything we can to speed up this process and bring back radiotherapy as quickly as possible. We know that this is the only machine in the country”, he said.

Source: AIM