A new Cancer machine worth one million that was dollars donated to the government has been commissioned at Uganda Cancer Institute.
The machine was donated to Uganda by the government of India and is expected to revamp radiation treatment at the institute.
According to Sam Kuteesa, the Foreign Affairs Minister the gift was a promise by India Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi when he visited Uganda in 2018 and seals the relations with Uganda in terms of healthcare cooperation.
The machine will enable the institution to receive up to 30,000 cancer patients annually and run with two cobalt 60 radiotherapy machines.
Everest Katungwensi, a Senior Radiation Therapist at the institute said the machine will be working on about 40 patients per day and that up to 60% of people seeking treatment for cancer will need radiotherapy as one of the treatment interventions.
This machine he said works on all the common cancers they receive at the institute including cervical and children’s cancers.
He said the machine has a wireless hand pendant that enables them to perform patient set up, record and verification and treatment delivery with fast and highly efficient workflow and that it can be tilted to all directions depending on which type of cancer they are focusing on.
Ravi Shankar, the Indian High Commissioner said that the people of India gave a gift of life to Ugandans considering that globally even in countries that have advanced in technology in terms of cancer care, a lot of people are still dying of cancer.
