More than 500 cancer patients were locked out of treatment at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) due to staff shortages in the financial year ended June 2025, government disclosures show.
The hospital’s CyberKnife machine, the only one in Kenya’s public health system, conducted just 250 radiation therapy sessions against a target of 800, leaving 550 patients without treatment.
The CyberKnife is a robotic system that delivers precise, high-dose radiation to tumours in sensitive areas such as the brain and spine, where conventional surgery may be too risky.
Patients require five sessions to complete a course of treatment and, for those with inoperable tumours, it is often the only treatment option available within the public health system. Those unable to access the service must either seek private treatment, often abroad, or rely on palliative care.
A Ministry of Health report attributed the shortfall to human resource challenges, which it said have since been addressed.
‘Targets were not achieved due to challenges with human resources. Staff have been trained, and the service is now fully operational,’ the report said.
Treatment gap
Over the three financial years to June 2025, the hospital targeted 1,450 CyberKnife sessions but managed only 599, resulting in a 59 percent shortfall.
The machine was launched by President William Ruto in 2023, with government records showing that its acquisition, at a cost of Sh685 million, was completed.
While the government says staff have since been trained and the machine is operational, the figures point to broader staffing constraints at the facility.
The budget allocated for specialised contract professionals, including radiation oncologists and medical physicists who operate the CyberKnife system, stood at Sh203 million in the 2024/25 financial year. However, hospital records show the allocation was insufficient to meet the actual cost of staffing those positions.
KUTRRH required Sh3.998 billion to cover staff salaries and benefits during the period but received Sh3.017 billion, leaving a funding gap of nearly Sh1 billion.
The government has also left an additional Sh1.39 billion in staff retirement benefits and related obligations unfunded.
In the financial year beginning July 2025, the National Treasury allocated Sh177.2 billion to the health sector, including Sh50 million earmarked for the expansion of KUTRRH’s comprehensive cancer centre.
The investment is intended to strengthen the hospital’s capacity to provide specialised cancer care.