The national government is committed to reducing the cost of cancer treatment in the country, Heath Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said.
Kagwe said they are planning to make cancer screening, early diagnosis, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine widely available in Kenya.
At least 42,000 Kenyans are diagnosed with new cancer cases annually, out of which 27,000 die from the disease.
Cancer is the third killer disease in Kenya after infectious and cardiovascular diseases, Kagwe said.
The CS spoke during World Cancer Day celebrations at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital on Friday.
Kagwe said Kenyans have been spending a lot of money on cancer treatment abroad.
“We must ensure that we minimise the number of people we lose from cancer.
"It is not just about the illness, it is the impact of the family which includes psychological, financial and the disruption of family social networks that are brought by the disease,” he said.
The CS said the government is expanding infrastructure for early cancer diagnosis and treatment and providing training opportunities for oncology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy professionals.
“We as the Ministry of Health need to do more of trainings and that is why we have the MOH virtual facility.
"This year we have trained about 6,000 people in different cadres of health care, particularly in oncology, so that they are able to participate in saving lives,” he said.
The CS challenged Kenyans to be happy for the services being offered by the government and stop focusing on the negative things.
“Kenyans we are always too quick to criticise and never see the good things that are being done. We are always concentrating on the negative, rather than focusing on the positive things that we can see,” he said.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, who lost his mother to cancer, said the region has made big strides in providing quality health service.
“The positive synergy between the national and county government has brought positive transformation in the healthcare especially here in Mombasa,” he said.
Joho said the country is revolutionising health care and everyone has a role to play.
He urged those getting the services from local hospitals to speak about it in order to encourage people to go for early screening and treatment.
CGTRH chief executive officer Dr Iqbal Khandwala said the cancer treatment center is equipped with an advanced radiotherapy information system.
“The radiotherapy machine that we have here has been installed with the latest technology and is able to deliver precise treatment without affecting the surrounding tissues,” he said.
Last year, CGTRH attended to 6,296 cases of cancer out of which 629 were newly diagnosed cases, while 1,690 patients were undergoing chemotherapy.
Only about 300 radiotherapy patients were referred out of Mombasa.
“The burden of cancer treatment is huge, but we are glad that all the treatment will be done in our hospital.
"With NHIF membership cards, patients will get radiotherapy treatment at no extra cost. The treatment will be free,” Khandwala said.
The new machine will be integrated to the hospital information system.
The center also has a linear accelerator unit for conducting stereotactic radiation therapy to treat various kinds of cancers.
It also has a brachytherapy unit meant to conduct brachytherapy radiation.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
