MBABANE :Mayibongwe Masangane, the Secretary General of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) says cervical cancer patients are now at risk after the breaking down of testing equipment.
It has been disclosed that equipment for processing PAP smears is currently not functioning well at the national laboratory and the processing of samples has been suspended.
Speaking to this Swaziland News on Monday, the SWADNU Secretary General said cervical cancer patients were at huge risk following the latest developments.
"Pap smear enables early diagnosis of cervical cancer and that makes it possible to treat it.When the cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage it cannot be treated”, he said.
Reached for comments, Dr Simon Zwane, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health said he wasn't aware of the matter.
“Let me check with the lab, there hasn't been any report to that effect”,said the Principal Secretary.
But Derrick Khumalo, the Principal Laboratory Technologist at the National Anatomical Pathology Laboratory issued a memorandum on Monday informing all health facilities that PAP smears collections were temporarily suspended.
"The equipment used for processing the PAP smears is currently out of order yet we have a huge backlog of samples.In the meantime we will be clearing the backlog", reads the memorandum in part.
MSWATI’S GOVERNMENT HEALTH CRISIS:Cervical cancer partients face death amid breakdown of testing equipment.