First radiotherapy service in Mozambique starts operating in November

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First radiotherapy service in Mozambique starts operating in November

12:51 CAT | 04 Sep 2018

Photo: Notícias

Maputo Central Hospital will begin providing Mozambique first radiotherapy service in in November, and hoping to treat 300 cancer patients annually, the head of Imaging and Radiotherapy at the Ministry of Health, Ridwaan Bachir Esmail, has said.

“At the moment, we are in the process of commissioning the device that is used prior to therapy, that is, we are acquiring the energy for the accelerator to measure the dosage necessary for each type of cancer,” Esmail, quoted by Mozambique’s largest daily, Jornal Notícias, explained.

Esmail said that Maputo Central Hospital was still awaiting the decisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the National Atomic Energy Authority on the safety of the facilities where the radiotherapy service will operate.

“The Ministry of Health has carried out its study and, for us, there is no problem. We can start treatment in November, and are expecting to treat at least 300 patients annually,” Esmail said.

The Mozambican Ministry of Health estimates that 3,500 new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually in Mozambique, but because of the absence of any radiotherapy treatment here, patients are forced to go abroad for treatment, which is therefore beyond the means of most Mozambicans.

In 2016, the state spent US$1.3 million on treatment abroad for cancer patients.

Source: Lusa