Nairobi, June 23 -- 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 tr...