KNH Sh190m cancer machines broken, donated by India

Two advanced cancer therapy machines worth Sh190 million, which India donated to Kenyatta National Hospital in 2017, have broken down and must be replaced.

Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi on Thursday told MPs the Sh120 million radiotherapy machine, called Bhabhatron II, and a digital radiotherapy simulator worth Sh70 million, are no longer working.

The two were donated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and were launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 24, 2017.

Mwangangi and KNH CEO Dr  Evanson Kamuri appeared before the National Assembly Health Committee to answer a question by Kibra MP Imran Okoth on the constant breakdown of cancer machines at KNH.

“With the breakdown of the Bhabhatron Cobalt and Imagin Simulator, their workload was transferred to other working units," Mwangangi said. She was representing Health CS Mutahe Kagwe.

"This further resulted in more strain to the already overstretched units, resulting in occasional breakdowns,” Mwangangi said.

The two donated machines have lifespans of 10 years, according to information from the manufacturer.

She said the ministry has commenced procurement of a gamma camera, a brachytherapy machine and a linear accelerator (Linac) to replace them.

Mwangangi said KNH is now being forced to transport cancer patients to Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital and private facilities such as Aga Khan and MP Shah for radiotherapy.

About 190 patients receive radiotherapy at KNH daily. 

“This is at no extra cost to the patients as we have an MoU with them to offer treatment at NHIF rates,” she said.

CEO Kamuri said the hospital has a total of seven machines for different cancer interventions including radiotherapy and imaging, and three are non-functional.

The third non-functional machine is 22-year-old brachytherapy equipment that its past its 10-year stated lifespan.

Kamuri said they are also facing a lack of isotopes, the consumables used in radiotherapy.

“The gamma camera and the brachytherapy machine stopped working purely because of a lack of isotopes because we’re not producing the isotopes locally,” he said.

He requested for tax waiver to enable suppliers to bring in the consumables.

The Bhabhatron-II is the commonest radiotherapy machine in India.

It was designed by the Indian Department of Atomic Energy and manufactured by M/s Panacea, a Bengaluru-based company near Bangalore.

The government has been promoting it in developing countries through donations, after which recipients need to constantly buy consumables and spare parts in India.

In Africa, the machine has been donated to Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Nigeria and Madagascar. Asian recipients are Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam.

Kenya developed a draft Medical Devices Management policy in 2019 to guide the donation of medical equipment.

This is because some donations end up costing the country more as they need spare parts and a consistent supply of single-use consumables which can be prohibitively expensive.

If the equipment is novel and the expertise is not available to maintain and fix it, it could also be broken permanently.

The World Health Organization recommends donors should give recipients “enough consumables and spare parts to last two years".

Mwangangi also noted there are three cancer machines working past their 10-year lifespan at 11, 14, and 20 years.

“No local vendor supports them, therefore KNH biomedical engineers support and maintain them, with a great challenge of sourcing for parts since they're hardly produced,” she said.

(Edited by V. Graham)