After two-year wait, Uganda gets its new cancer machine

Uganda's only radiotherapy machine was officially replaced Friday, nearly two years after the previous one broke down, giving hope to cancer patients who had been denied a crucial tool against the disease.

The failure of the old machine in March 2016 caused a public outcry and was seen as symbolising the deterioration of Uganda's medical services.

Since 1995, Mulago Hospital in Kampala had become a hub for treating cancer patients across east Africa, many of them coming from countries lacking radiotherapy equipment.

On Friday, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the new $815,000 (664,000-euro) Cobalt-60 machine, housed in a concrete bunker at the hospital, was part of a "vision of becoming the East African centre of excellence in the management of oncology."

Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which helped install the new machine, said Friday's commissioning was a "major cause of celebration".

No cancer machines in 28 African countries

The agency and the Ugandan government each paid half of the cost of the machine.

"In 28 countries in Africa there is no cancer machine. (Patients) cannot be diagnosed and they cannot be treated," said Amano.

Dr Jackson Orem, director of the Uganda Cancer Institute, told AFP that about 5,000 cases are referred to the institute each year.

Many patients show up with cancer that is already at an advanced stage.

The new machine is capable of treating up to 120 people a day.

The exact number of cancer cases in Africa is not known, but in 2010, there were around 850,000 new cancer cases, a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

But in 2008, 421,000 died because of cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report from the American Cancer Society.

"By the year 2030, cancer and other non-communicable diseases may overtake some infectious diseases as leading causes of death in sub-Saharan Africa," a 2016 WHO report said.