Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation

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QEH clears air on cobalt machine

January 27, 2024

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital is tonight denying its cobalt machine is not working.

Chairman Nigel Whitehall says within the last 14 months it was only out of service for a period of two weeks and that was immediately following the cyber attack in December 2022.

The Chairman has been reacting to a story in another section of the press about cancer patients being left on a waiting list because the radiotherapy machine is not working.

He says patients continue to receive palliative care daily within the Oncology Department from the machine.

However he explains the hospital is in the process of a number of changes to the treatment of cancer patients.

Mr. Whitehall says the QEH has provided specifications and costs for a linear accelerator, which is also used for radiation therapy, and Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has already indicated they are in the final stages of acquiring one.

He says in the meantime the QEH through its medical aid scheme has been assisting patients.

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