DEATH SENTENCE: Hundreds of Cancer Patients Abandoned as KNH’s Life-Saving Machine Lies Dead for FIVE MONTHS

Desperate families watch helplessly as broken radiotherapy equipment turns East Africa’s biggest referral hospital into a house of despair

NAIROBI – In the sterile corridors of Kenyatta National Hospital, where hope once echoed in the hum of life-saving machinery, an eerie silence now tells the story of a medical catastrophe that has left hundreds of cancer patients staring death in the face.

Kenya’s flagship medical institution – the region’s premier referral hospital serving over 50 million people across East and Central Africa – has been operating like a wounded giant, its only Linear Accelerator (LINAC) cancer treatment machine lying broken and useless since January 2025.

While hospital officials publicly announced the “unexpected technical failure” on May 28, insiders reveal the devastating truth: the critical equipment has been non-functional for five agonizing months, forcing desperate families to choose between bankruptcy in private hospitals or watching their loved ones succumb to spreading tumors.

The Deadly Waiting Game

At the hospital’s Cancer Treatment Centre, empty treatment chairs that once buzzed with life-saving radiation therapy now stand as monuments to bureaucratic failure.

The few patients who manage to secure appointments walk away clutching useless cards, their faces etched with the terror of time running out.

“They tell us to go home and wait,” says Phoebe Ongadi, executive director of the Kenya Network of Cancer Organizations.

“But they don’t tell us how long. Cancer doesn’t wait. Every day without treatment gives the disease time to spread and claim more ground in their bodies.”

The human cost is staggering.

With cancer ranking as Kenya’s third leading cause of death and affecting over 44,000 new patients annually, the breakdown has created a medical emergency of unprecedented proportions. Women, who are disproportionately affected by cancer in Kenya, bear the heaviest burden of this institutional failure.

Patients Dumped Like Medical Refugees

Sources within KNH confirm this is “the umpteenth time patients are stranded in the country’s biggest hospital,” painting a picture of systemic negligence that has turned Kenya’s medical crown jewel into a house of broken promises.

The ripple effect has overwhelmed neighboring facilities.

At Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTTRH), staff report an alarming influx of transferred patients that has stretched their single LINAC machine beyond recommended capacity – serving 110 patients monthly against the recommended maximum of 60.

“The waiting list has now stretched to six months,” reveals a KUTTRH source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We have patients who need 21 to 36 continuous daily sessions, each lasting 15-20 minutes. Once you start radiotherapy, it cannot be interrupted, or the cancer gains the upper hand.”

Government’s Broken Promises Echo in Empty Halls

While the Ministry of Health has pledged “swift action” to restore services, cancer advocates are demanding more than empty promises.

The hospital’s outdated Cobalt radiotherapy machine – a relic that produces significantly more side effects than modern LINAC technology – remains the only alternative for the few lucky enough to access it.

“KNH keeps saying the new machine is ‘on the way, on the way,’” Ongadi says, her voice heavy with frustration.

“We want clear deadlines. Where is it? Is it at the port? They’ve been saying this every year while our patients’ patience – and lives – run out.”

The crisis exposes the hollowness of Kenya’s Universal Health Coverage promise, launched twelve years ago as a cornerstone of affordable healthcare for all. Today, that promise lies as broken as the machines meant to deliver it.

Racing Against Death’s Clock

For cancer patients, this isn’t merely an inconvenience – it’s a race against death where every missed treatment session hands their disease a deadly advantage.

The LINAC machine, which works like a precision X-ray targeting radiation to destroy cancer cells while protecting healthy tissue, represents the difference between life and death for thousands.

Unlike the hospital’s antiquated alternatives, modern LINAC technology can shape radiation beams to match even oddly-shaped tumors with incredible accuracy, delivering powerful doses in fewer sessions while minimizing collateral damage to healthy organs.

A System in Critical Condition

The breakdown represents more than equipment failure – it’s a damning indictment of a healthcare system that has failed its most vulnerable citizens.

As families mortgage their futures for private treatment or watch helplessly as cancer claims their loved ones, one question haunts the corridors of power: How many more will die while bureaucrats play procurement games with human lives?

Acting CEO William Sigilai claims the hospital has “fast-tracked” procurement of replacement equipment, but for the hundreds of patients whose appointments have been cancelled and whose treatment schedules have been shattered, fast-tracking feels like a cruel joke when measured against cancer’s relentless advance.

In a country where hope should be the first medicine dispensed at its premier hospital, KNH’s broken promise echoes in every empty radiation therapy chair, every cancelled appointment, and every family forced to choose between financial ruin and watching their loved ones die.

The question isn’t whether Kenya can afford to fix this crisis – it’s whether the country can afford not to, as hundreds of lives hang in the balance of bureaucratic incompetence.