Chiradzulu District Hospital is operating without an X-ray machine, a development which is affecting the screening of presumptive tuberculosis (TB) patients.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), chest radiography, or chest X-ray (CXR), is an important tool for triaging and screening for pulmonary TB, and it is also useful to aid diagnosis when pulmonary TB cannot be confirmed bacteriologically.
A visit at the hospital on Tuesday, found clients who were to be x-rayed being returned home, and some being advised to seek the services elsewhere.
23 year-old Charles John from Mbalame Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mpama, scheduled for TB x-ray, was among those who were unable to access the service on the day.
He said that the closest hospital offering the service is St Joseph-Nguludi Mission Hospital in the same district.
“As it is a private hospital, they charge approximately K10,000 for the service, which is beyond my means,” said John, who survives on piece works.
Additionally, he would need to cover transportation costs. He expressed that he had no option but to wait until the hospital finds a resolution.
When we visited the X-ray department, we found Yamikani Mapapa, a Radiographer at Chiradzulu District Hospital attending to clients.
He told us that the machine has been on and off for almost a year now.
“We have had technicians who had worked on the machine, but the problem has been persistent. The problem has been overheating,” he said adding that the technicians are sent from the Ministry of Health, as the hospital does not have one.
As a precaution, Mapapa said they are now referring patients to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.
“So as a hospital, we offer free transport for those seeking x-ray services to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. On Friday, we are sending some patients this Friday,” he said
Mapapa said when the machine is functional, they scan over 30 patients per day.
Chiradzulu district TB officer Patrick Chikuni said the problem has affected efforts to have more people tested.
“Since the machine started malfunction, we have seen a tremendous drop in people getting screened for TB. A lot of them cannot manage to pay at the private facilities,” he said
In an interview, Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe acknowledged the problem. He said that apart from Charadzulu, Machinga and Mwaza district hospitals are also running without an x-ray machine
“Indeed, the x-ray machine at the hospital is not functioning, however, we have already identified a service provider for that.
“On top of that, we are fixing some other mobile machines with a lower volume of patient traffic. But the advantage is they can be taken anywhere because they are mobile. We are going to fix these machines in the shortest period, maybe just in a few weeks,” he said adding that this is a temporally solution as they wait for the spare parts to maintain the old ones.
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