This archive report was first published on 2 August 2019.
August 2, 2019, marked a significant day for Kenya as a US-based Kenyan Nuclear Medicine expert, John Gitau Wairimu, shared his expertise with the government on how to address the country's cancer menace.
Gitau, who made history by becoming one of the first four students in the United States to graduate with a Master's degree in Nuclear Medicine in 2017, emphasized the importance of early cancer diagnosis.
"While declaring cancer a national disaster in Kenya is progress, the real issue here is when and how do we diagnose cancer during the early stages when it is still manageable and can respond to therapy," Gitau said.
He further noted that the government needs to invest in nuclear medicine procedures, which can detect cancer cells earlier than x-rays and CAT scans.
Gitau, a 35-year-old Nuclear Medicine expert, posed a question to the government: "My advice to the Government as a Nuclear medicine expert is to prioritize the adaption of better diagnostic equipment and methods. Nuclear medicine procedures can detect cancer cells many months before x-ray and CAT Scans do, and actually show the cell physiology, but Nuclear medicine is not practiced in Kenya yet there is a Nuclear regulation commission in the Government; its purpose we don’t know."
He explained that by the time a patient in Kenya is diagnosed with cancer through x-rays and CAT scans, it would have reached the final stages, hence incurable.
"…going to India or England will not save the patient; stage 4 cannot be saved by medical tourism to India or the United States or the United Kingdom," Gitau said.
Gitau concluded by emphasizing the need for early detection methods like nuclear medicine, stating, "To the Kenyan government: adopting early detection methods like nuclear medicine will be the only way out."
