Something to cheer about from the august House

Bureti Member of Parliament Leonard Sang has proposed to table a Motion in Parliament that will obligate the Government to fund the treatment of serious diseases that include cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and other terminal illnesses.

Last week at State House Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted five students from Gitugi Girls High School who have launched a public appeal for funds to help their fellow student, 17-year-old Stella Wangui Wakiara undergo a kidney transplant in India.

These school girls with no means to raise funds for a colleague in need had the courage to put out an appeal that caught the attention of the Head of State while those elected to lead such initiatives were busy scheming how much they could get from making false mileage claims and how to increase their salaries and acquire new cars and bigger houses.

Many Kenyans with kidney problems have died and some of them continue to suffer in silence because they cannot undergo dialysis procedures which are very costly and restricted to only a few hospitals in the country.

Diabetes, high blood pressure and other lifestyle diseases are silently eating away lives.

Despite their increase, many Kenyans cannot meet the costs of treatment or managing them.

Cancer is on the increase and its treatment and management are way out of reach of the common man.

The World Health Organisation says Kenya has a disease burden that puts life expectancy at 56 years and predicts that the prevalence of diabetes will have reached 4.5 per cent of the total population by 2025, from the current rate of 3.3 per cent.

Kenya is reported to have 82,000 cancer cases every year yet the facilities for treatment and management are scarce.

It remains the third main cause of death in Kenya. The proposed Motion is therefore commendable though in cases like these, prevention is better than cure and therefore the MP's Motion could be amended to advocate for more funding for research and public education on these lifestyle ailments that are increasingly defining our lives nowadays.