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Kenya urged to create cancer register

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 29 – The government has been urged to create a cancer registry which will have the details of all patients affected by the ailment.

This follows revelations that there were no records of cancer patients in the country.

Hope For Cancer Kids Executive Director James Nyaga said on Saturday that such a registry would help in the planning for the care of those affected.

 "We need a cancer registry very fast so that when we are doing things we know that we are talking about this number of people," Mr Nyaga stated.

"There is also no regulation on what we call alternative medicine. They are not bad but you find that there quacks getting their and sometimes parents take their children to them."

At the same time he called on Parliament to debate the National Cancer Control and Prevention Bill.

He said that if passed, the proposed Bill would tackle issues dealing with the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care of cancer patients.

He further stated that the Bill would drastically reduce the number of deaths associated with cancer.

"Once that Bill is passed, you can greatly reduce the number of deaths from cancer," he said.

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"If in other countries people are cured, why not in Kenya here. So we just need to work together."

Speaking at the same time, Mrs Wanjiku Mbuthia, a cured cancer patient recounted her ordeal with the ailment.

"I was feeling very dizzy. It was very bad because I used to black out on many occasions and even my hands were white and yellow," she explained.

"Later on however I was treated despite many people being negative. Many thought that I would not get well but with God, everything is possible," she emphasised.

Peris Wanja who is a mother also recalled what she has had to go through in caring for her cancer stricken child.

 "It was very hard work because I had another older child and when I left him with my mother, he was not taken care of," she explained.

I stayed at the ward for one whole year and then later on, we were given permission to come out of the Hospital," she said further.

"If anyone has been told that the child is sick, then the family should come together to help in the caring for him. This is the only way not to lose hope during this period," she advised.

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