Yesterday the Senate debated a proposal to provide cancer patients with a stipend to help them through their medical crisis ( see P8).
This well-meaning gesture is unrealistic. Firstly, there are about 28,000 new cases of cancer in Kenya every year and 22,000 are eventually fatal. But hypothetically this cancer stipend could end up being paid to around 100,000 people. Is that affordable?
Secondly, why is cancer being prioritised over other illnesses such as diabetes or hypertension? Those ailments can also stop you from working.
In any case, cancer cases are on the rise all over the world as populations grow older. In Kenya too, it is natural that there will be more cases of cancer as life expectancy grows – something has to finally take you away.
We should not therefore obsess about cancer in particular but should consider how we can support Kenyans who have been incapacitated by illness.
If there was an effective social welfare system, medicines would be provided free of charge and sickness benefit would be paid to adults who could not work. This might seem utopian today but it is what Kenya should be aiming for.
Quote of the day: "A people denied history is a people deprived of dignity."
Ali Mazrui
The Kenyan political scientist was born on February 24, 1933
