At least 600 Wajir residents turned up at the county referral hospital for free cancer screening done by the county in partnership with HCG CCK Cancer Centre.
Residents from all the eight subcounties were screened for prostate, cervical, breast and throat cancer.
Prostate, oesophageal and colon cancers are the leading cancers among men in Wajir while breast and cervical are the most common among women according to ministry data.
Medical services chief officer Ahmed Omar said there was an alarming increase of oesophagal cancers at the county referral hospital that needs to be addressed.
Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi said access to screening, treatment and palliative care need to be facilitated and prioritised in the county’s health agenda.
“We are at an advanced stage of putting up an ultra-modern cancer centre with the support of the national government and other partners. We have set aside Sh50 million for that exercise,” he said.
As the county embarks on the project, residents would like to know what are the real causes of these killer diseases, he said.
“Environmentalists and doctors need to tell us so that we know how to go about it,” Abdi said.
Mohamed Ibrahim a resident of Habaswein in Wajir South who suffers from throat cancer and who makes frequent visits to Nairobi, welcomed the free screening clinic.
“Devolving healthcare has brought such services closer home, something that was unheard of when it was under the national government,” he said.
Hawa Hussein who travelled from Diff to be screened said that she heard of the clinic through a local radio station and decided to go for the exercise.
“I hear over the radio of people dying as a result of cancer. I didn’t want to take chances when presented with this opportunity,” Hawa said.
HCG CCK team leader Dr Joseph Asati said they will set up a chemotherapy unit as part of the partnership with the county and will offer services at discounted rates.
“The numbers we received were so overwhelming. This shows there is a need for more screening and curative services for cancer.
Deaths due to cancer have risen drastically, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
In 2018, the annual incidence of cancer was estimated at 47,887 with 32,987 deaths.
