Government Begins Cancer, Cardiac Care Machines Upgrade in Public Health Facilities

Harare - Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care has started rolling out multi-million dollar diagnostic and surgical machines targeting the country's central and provincial hospitals, being made possible by the sugar tax and new private-sector partnerships.

Speaking to members of the diaspora on Monday ,March 16, in the United Kingdom, Health Minister Dr. Douglas Mombeshora, confirmed that the government has moved into a decisive phase of medical procurement, targeting the long-standing deficit in cancer treatment and cardiac care.

Under a new initiative, the state-run Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals is now collaborating with the Trauma Centre Borrowdale to conduct advanced heart surgeries, a move intended to reduce the number of patients seeking expensive treatment abroad.

"Trauma Centre Borrowdale is working with Pari to do heart surgery. So it’s possible, and we want to encourage you [specialists] to come and do such things with your skills; come and offer your services in partnership with us," Mombeshora said.

The Minister acknowledged that public health infrastructure had suffered from very old equipment and failed repair cycles that often spanned years.

He however noted that the fiscal landscape changed with the introduction of a specialised sugartax on sugar-sweetened beverages, specifically earmarked for non-communicable diseases.

"There was an introduction of sugar taxes to deal with cancer treatment, cancer management. And we have procured new equipment," Dr. Mombeshora said.

The Ministry has already received two low-energy linear accelerators for cancer treatment, which are currently being installed at Parirenyatwa in Harare and Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.

Additionally, two multi-energy linear accelerators have been purchased, though their arrival is currently threatened by geopolitical instability in the Middle East.

"I think we are just hoping the shipment is not going to be affected by the movement, by the war that is there now," the Minister said, "because I think it was supposed to go through the Strait of Hormuz. So I’ve been trying to get hold of the suppliers to see if the shipment is coming or if they halted it."

Addressing the critical shortage of diagnostic tools, Mombeshora revealed that a second phase of procurement is underway.

This phase focuses on equipping every provincial and central hospital with modern imaging technology, including X-ray machines, CT scans and MRI scanners.

He said Treasury has already granted the Ministry permission to begin evaluating bidders for these contracts.

"We are procuring CT scans for every central hospital and every provincial hospital. We are also procuring new digital X-rays to replace where there are no digital X-rays," Mombeshora said, adding that the goal is to implement tele-radiography to allow for remote diagnostics across the country.

While acknowledging that the transition won't happen overnight, Dr. Mombeshora said he is confident that the current procurement cycle would be completed within the next twelve months.

 "We are sure by next year, if we meet here, we will be telling you that all those machines will have been installed," he said.

Zimbabwe’s Healthcare Modernisation and the Sugar Tax

The current procurement drive is a shift in Zimbabwe's strategy to fund a fragile health system through domestic resource mobilization.

Historically, the country’s two largest referral centers, Parirenyatwa and Mpilo, have struggled with broken radiotherapy machines, forcing thousands of cancer patients to rely on expensive private facilities or travel to South Africa and India.

The primary engine for this recovery is the special sugartax on sugar content, introduced in 2024.

Despite initial pushback from the beverage industry, which saw the tax halved from its original rate, the levy has reportedly raised over US$60 million cumulatively by early 2026.

The ring-fenced funding has allowed the Ministry of Health to bypass some of the traditional budget delays that previously stalled equipment maintenance.

The move toward Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), such as the heart surgery collaboration with Trauma Centre Borrowdale, is also a core component of government's National Health Strategy (2025–2030).

In integrating the high-tech capabilities of private trauma centers with the scale of public referral hospitals, the government says it aims to stem the "brain drain" of specialist surgeons and retain medical expertise within the country.