This archive report was first published on 2 July 2019.
July 2, 2019 - Nairobi, Kenya
Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga has called for the Cancer Prevention and Control Bill to be amended to include cancer treatment under primary healthcare.
Wanga, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2014, says the disease has become a major killer in the country due to late diagnosis.
Her sentiments come a day after Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore, who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2017, succumbed to the disease.
“Chair, this bill is so personal to me because I am speaking from experience. I was diagnosed with cancer and before diagnosis, I could not tell what I was suffering from because sometimes the disease is there, and you do not feel pain. The main issue is that many people have been misdiagnosed because even the doctors themselves cannot tell from the onset that someone has cancer,” she said.
Wanga proposed that each county should have at least one oncologist, and the government should fund training for more oncologists to deal with cancer.
Committee members, led by Chairperson Sabina Chege (Murang’a Women Representative), welcomed Wanga’s proposals, saying they were timely.
“I want to thank you for this bill, and I am sure if cancer is made part of primary healthcare, it is going to be given attention at that level. If some of these cancer problems were diagnosed early, some of the deaths that we have experienced would not have happened,” said Chege.
