Kisumu cancer patients and those from neighbouring counties will get comprehensive care after the construction of a Sh350 million radiotherapy centre is completed.
The facility at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital will offer radiotherapy, chemotherapy and palliative care services.
Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said phase one of the project will be completed in two years.
The county intends to have a Sh1 billion facility in five years with the support of development partners.
Nyong’o, who is a cancer survivor, decried the lack of specialised cancer care countrywide.
“Despite 60 per cent of cancer patients requiring radiotherapy management, there is only one public hospital offering radiotherapy management – Kenyatta National Hospital,” he said.
“For a long time now, our people have had to travel long distances to seek cancer treatment at very high costs that force them to dig deeper into their already starved financial coffers,” the governor said.
He said the radiotherapy centre will make Kisumu a focal point for comprehensive oncology management in the Western circuit and other lake region economic bloc counties.
He said his government's emphasis will be the reduction of cancer incidences and deaths through access to population-based primary prevention, early detection, quality diagnostics, treatment and palliative care.
“It is the priority of my government to expand access to cancer screening services to ensure that cancer cases are identified early enough,” he said.
Nyong’o said the county will inform and educate people on the benefits of early screening, diagnosis and risks reduction.
He said cancer impacts negatively on the economy through increased medical costs, lost income and the financial, physical and emotional burden on families and caregivers.
In Kenya, an estimated 40,000 new cancer cases and 28,000 cancer deaths occur each year.
This makes it the third leading cause of mortality, accounting for 7 per cent of all annual deaths.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of ill health and deaths worldwide with approximately 14 million new cases reported annually. Globally, every one in six deaths is due to cancer.
(Edited by O. Owino)
