Lifesaving medical machines on the blink
Broken mammogram machine prevents early breast cancer detection
RED tape is delaying potentially lifesaving cancer tests for hundreds of Zululand women as Ngwelezana Hospital has been waiting since July for quotations to fix crucial medical equipment.
Acting CEO for the hospital, Doctor Bright Madlala on Wednesday confirmed that its mammogram and Lodox machines were out of order and the hospital was waiting for Health Technology Services (HTS) to ‘issue an order to service providers so they can come and look at what is wrong with the machines’.
HTS is a division of the Department of Health and is based Durban.
The division, which ‘possesses expertise in mechanical engineering’ was established to provide assistance to health facilities experiencing issues with medical equipment.
‘All medical equipment in the hospital has service providers responsible for maintaining and servicing them where necessary,’ said Dr Madlala.
‘Once the quotation is received, it is sent to HTS who will then issue an order for the machine to be repaired.
‘This is why there is sometimes a delay in the repairing of these machines.’
He added that the process was further prolonged by parts having to be ordered from overseas, which could only be done by the service provider once HTS gave the go-ahead.
Ngwelezana Hospital caters for residents of the Zululand, King Cetshwayo and uMkhanyakude districts which have a combined population of around three million people.
On average, 60 000 new patients visit the hospital every year with an average of 7 700 patients needing treatment every month.
Dr Madlala confirmed that they usually schedule five mammograms every day, but since July the appointments had to be rescheduled.
By definition, a mammogram is an x-ray of the breast that can be used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease.
It is used to check patients who have lumps or other signs of breast cancer.
The Lodox machine meanwhile is an x-ray machine used in polytrauma cases (a person who has sustained multiple traumatic injuries) to determine the extent of the injuries.
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