The Cancer Prevention and Control (Amendment) Bill, 2016 by Member of Parliament Gladys Wanga is set to be introduced in the National Assembly for debate. For legislators known more for their political shenanigans, this comes as a welcome relief.
Cancer has received very little attention, despite being one of the leading causes of deaths among Kenyans after malaria and pneumonia. Available statistics show an average of 27,000 people die from cancer annually.
It is not made any easy on patients when the only specialised treatment they can barely afford is at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Hospital authorities in 2015 indicated at least 1,000 patients had been put on a waiting list that stretched to 2017. In essence, this means a lot of patients who cannot afford treatment elsewhere die without having been attended to.
An ambitious Sh38 billion medical plan to equip two hospitals in each county with cancer and dialysis machines appears to have been a failed project. Where the machines were supplied, the challenge of having trained staff and operators of the machinery has stood in the way to ensure patients do not get the benefits.
Inasmuch as the proposed Bill seeks to give assistance to cancer patients in terms of providing machines and lessening treatment costs, it deserves the support of all who understand the toll cancer and other diseases like kidney and liver failures have not just on the individual and the family, but the country at large.
While debating the cancer Bill, MPs must deliberate on the general status of the health sector in the country. Doctors have been on strike for close to two months agitating for better pay, better working conditions and a revamping of the medical sector, which they claim has been ignored for long to give private practitioners room to exploit poor Kenyans.
