THIS week, a friend shared a painful experience that left me deeply distressed. He had taken a relative, recently diagnosed with cancer, for check-ups.
The doctors recommended radiotherapy, but to access it, the patient must travel twice a week a total of 1 800 kilometres to and from Harare, where the only functioning radiotherapy machine is located at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
What makes this worse is that Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo already has a radiotherapy machine, purchased years ago for about US$3 million. Yet it lies idle because government has failed to buy an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system costing just US$60 000.
A UPS is hardly a luxury item, it is a standard power-backup device that shields sensitive machines from sudden power cuts and voltage fluctuations, preserving memory and preventing costly damage. Without it, running the machine would be reckless.
So the question is: who in government is responsible for ensuring life-saving equipment is usable? How can a Health ministry, with a permanent secretary, principal directors and a full Cabinet minister, fail to act on something this simple?
The absurdity is painful. Every day, cancer patients from across Zimbabwe must travel to Harare, clogging a single facility. Meanwhile, the political elite do not wait in queues; they fly to South Africa, India, China or Singapore for treatment, paid for by public funds.
It defies reason that our leaders can sign off millions of dollars for luxury SUVs and foreign travel, but not US$60 000 for a UPS to save lives. That is not mere negligence, it is contempt for citizens.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, symbolised by the pink ribbon. Around the world, this is a time to remember those lost to cancer, to share knowledge and to inspire action.
- Trial of novelist Tsitsi Dangarembgwa resumes
- In Full: Eighth cabinet post briefing: 13 March 2022
- Letters to the editor: Africa under pressure to tackle youth unemployment
- Out & about: TGIF breast clinic opens in Nigeria
Keep Reading
But in Zimbabwe, awareness alone will not save lives. What we need is a functioning health system that treats cancer as the urgent national crisis it is.
Cancer has become one of the biggest killers in our country, surpassing HIV and Aids in its silent toll. According to the Zimbabwe National Cancer Registry, the country has recorded over 7 000 new cases annually since 2014, with more than 3 000 deaths each year.
GLOBOCAN 2020 put Zimbabwe’s cancer burden at 16 083 new cases and 10 676 deaths in that year alone. These figures are projected to double in the next two decades.
Breast, cervical and prostate cancers dominate the statistics, with women and men alike left vulnerable in a system that offers little by way of prevention, screening or treatment.
More than 80% of cancer patients present to hospitals only at advanced stages, when treatment options are limited and survival chances slim.
The reasons are obvious: exorbitant costs, lack of accessible facilities and a public health sector collapsing under decades of neglect. Consultation fees ranging between US$100 and US$150 for a specialist, hundreds more for scans and thousands for treatment put cancer care beyond the reach of ordinary families.
Public hospitals, once centres of hope, have become theatres of despair. The image of patients standing in long queues at Parirenyatwa in the blazing sun, waiting for a chance at radiotherapy, is a national disgrace. It has become a cruel normal.
And yet, our leaders do not flinch. They rebrand hospitals with new names, new plaques on crumbling walls, while failing to re-equip them.
It is not that Zimbabwe lacks resources. It is that resources are squandered on luxuries for the few at the expense of the many. Each time a minister parades in a new Land Cruiser, Range Rover, remember the cancer patient who will die because a US$60 000 UPS was “too expensive”.
Each time a convoy zooms past, think of the families forced to sell homes or cattle to afford chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
This October, let us be honest: cancer is not just a health issue. It is a governance issue. It is about priorities. It is about whether our leaders believe that Zimbabwean lives are worth saving.
The World Health Organisation projects rising cancer deaths across Africa, with Zimbabwe among the hardest hit. We need investment in screening, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care. Above all, we need political leaders willing to choose hospitals over motorcades, medicine over mansions and life over luxury.
As citizens, we must demand answers. The fight against cancer is not optional. It is a fight for dignity, justice and the right to life.
This Pink October, let us not just wear ribbons. Let us demand accountability.
