A motion to compel the government to provide cancer patients with a monthly stipends, free wigs and prosthetic breasts has been filed in the Senate.
In addition, national and county governments will be mandated to provide patients with free prescriptions and partner with stakeholders to create support, including counselling services.
If the motion filed by nominated Senator Gertrude Musuruve is passed and implemented, it will be a relief for patients who are financially drained.
Treatment of cancer costs an arm and a leg for most Kenyans. Well-off families fly to India and other countries for treatment.
“The Senate calls upon the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Council of Governors, to provide cancer patients with free prescriptions, wigs for those who have lost their hair, improvised breasts where applicable, and a subsidy for prostheses,” the motion reads.
However, this is not the first time a motion has been filed in Parliament to address the plight of cancer patients.
Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga sponsored a bill to compel all public health facilities to provide cancer patients with treatment as part of primary healthcare.
Wanga wants the Cancer Act changed to allow treatment of cancer at any health facility in the country. The Bill sailed through the second reading in the National Assembly.
Many women cancer patients lose their breasts to the disease while others lose their hair during treatment (chemotherapy).
Musuruve said that gaps in existing legislative frameworks, such as discriminatory practices in the form of coverage limits and bureaucracies by the NHIF and private insurance firms, result in delayed diagnosis.
“Incomplete cancer treatments and inadequate follow-ups that contribute to poor outcomes for cancer patients [have compounded the patients’ agony],” she said.
“The economic impact of cancer is significant, and is increasing with staggering consequences occasioned by increased medical costs, lost income, and the financial, physical and emotional burden placed on families and caregivers during treatment time.”
In Kenya, cancer is estimated to be the third leading cause of death after infectious and cardio-vascular diseases. The annual incidence of cancer is closing in on 37,000 new cases with an annual mortality rate of 28,000.
Last year, former Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso, former Kibra MP Ken Okoth and ex-Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore succumbed to cancer.
Kenya is among the state parties that signed and ratified the Abuja Declaration that affirmed that state parties shall set aside at least 15 per cent of their annual budget to improve the health sector.
