Uganda, May 3 -- Uganda is grappling with a critical shortage of cytotechnologists, a gap health experts say is fuelling late cancer diagnosis and rising deaths.

Cytotechnologists are specialised health workers who screen and detect cancer at an early stage, a role officials say remains severely understaffed across the country.

Mr Peter Nyamutale, registrar at the Uganda Allied Health Professionals Council, said Uganda has far fewer specialists than required to effectively detect cancer early.

"These specialists were introduced to help diagnose and detect cancer early in the community, but because they are very few, we are failing to achieve that goal," Mr Nyamutale said.

Uganda has 108 hospitals, each expected to have at least three ...