Eight counties will benefit once a Sh500 million state-of–the-art radiotherapy centre is built at the Nakuru Level 5 Hospital.
Patients from Bomet, Kericho, Samburu, Baringo, Nyandarua, and Laikipia will be treated at the centre.
The project is funded by the national government and is being implemented by the county government under the Universal Health Coverage initiative.
Nakuru Health executive Zachary Gichuki said the radiotherapy unit will offer quality and affordable healthcare to cancer patients.
“For a long time patients who required radiotherapy were usually referred to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret,” he said.
Gichuki said once the unit is operational, it will greatly reduce the financial burden that patients undergo while traveling to Nairobi or Eldoret.
Nakuru is among counties that have made a milestone by establishing an oncology department to handle rising cases of cancer.
Since the oncology department was established in May last year, at least 6,000 cases cancer have been reviewed.
The unit has 10 chemotherapy seats and is manned by an oncologist, a medical officer, a pharmacist, four nurses and a physiotherapist and has the capacity to serve at least 30 patients a day.
Gichuki said the completion of the radiotherapy bunker will make Nakuru the third town to offer this facility in Kenya after Nairobi and Eldoret counties.
