Mozambique: OAM denounces police repression and torture
Mozambique: Broken radiotherapy machine puts teenager’s dreams on hold
7:39 CAT | 16 Jun 2025
FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Miramar]
Patrício Jorge, a teenager diagnosed with ear cancer, dreams of becoming a doctor to help people with albinism, but he is being held back by the only radiotherapy machine in Mozambique – which has been broken since 2024.
Patrício, who has albinism, has already undergone two rounds of surgery at Nampula Central Hospital, in northern Mozambique, but the wound in his ear caused by the cancer, which started as a pimple in 2022, has not healed.
“If I get better, I want to study medicine. I want to take care of others like me,” Patrício told Lusa.
After the second surgery, doctors told the 18-year-old that the cure for his cancer lay with the only radiotherapy machine in Mozambique, which is at Maputo Central Hospital, the largest health unit in the country, but which has been broken for just over a year, according to local media.
“In 2022, it was a pimple and then it gradually started to grow until it got worse and infected the entire ear […]. I had my first operation in 2024, but the wound was still there. I went back for surgery this year, but the doctors say that for the wound to heal I need to have radiotherapy,” said Patrício Jorge, who was born in Lalaua, in Nampula district.
Patrício lives with his ear covered in bandages, and his dream of graduating in medicine is on hold because he cannot afford to receive treatment outside Mozambique.
This Friday was s International Albinism Awareness Day. Albinism is a condition in which the skin, eyes, and hair lack melanin, the substance responsible for pigmentation and protection from solar radiation.
In another case, prolonged exposure to the sun caused cancer in young Assane Chande, 25, from the Island of Mozambique, in Nampula.
Assane, whose illness was diagnosed six months ago, cannot even explain to Lusa how his face has changed due to cancer.
“I don’t know what happened, when I realized I had this pimple on my face,” said the young man, who also has albinism, and is waiting for surgery, which has already been scheduled.
The coordinator of a Spanish surgical mission aimed at people with albinism, Cata Lavandeira says that the breakdown of the only radiotherapy machine in Mozambique “savagely” exposes the fragility of the country’s health system, and especially patients who face difficulties in receiving treatment in other countries.
“There are many patients who need radiotherapy, and it is not available in Mozambique. There are alternative countries like Malawi, South Africa or Spain, but these treatments are very expensive. We do everything we can, but the resources are very scarce,” said the coordinator of medical missions at the Spanish NGO África Direto, who is on a surgery sabbatical in Nampula focussing on people with albinism.
Cata Lavandeira said that the lack of cancer treatment can hinder the dreams of many young people: “It is sad to tell a person aged 14, 20 or 23, people who still have dreams, that because of the sun they will not be able to achieve them”.
The Mozambican government has acknowledged that people with albinism continue to face “profound stigma” in the country, including mutilation, discrimination and social exclusion, promising to adjust the legislation to protect this group.
READ: Mozambique: Albinos fighting against stigma and discrimination
Mozambique: Misinformation fuels crimes against persons with albinism – Minister
“This reality is unacceptable and must be firmly repudiated by all of us. It is an open wound in our collective conscience and a violation of the principles enshrined in our Constitution of the Republic and in the international human rights treaties ratified by our country,” Minister of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs Mateus Saize said during the launch of the campaign to raise awareness of albinism, in Maputo.
People with albinism have been victims of persecution, violence and discrimination due to myths and superstitions, which include the use of their organs or bones in rituals, and are among the main targets of human rights violations.
The desecration of graves to loot the bones of buried albinos is also known to take place.
African’ healers’ can spend more than €70,000 for an organ from a deceased albino person.
Statistics from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) reported in 2023 by Lusa indicate that, since 2014, in Mozambique alone, at least 114 people with albinism have disappeared in unexplained circumstances.
Mozambique: Minister promises to restore radiotherapy services this week – O País
Still no date for the only radiotherapy machine in Mozambique to be fixed or replaced
Source: Lusa
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