Cancer foundation good but misses the point

Talk to many Kenyans about government performance on service delivery, and the response you get might not be too positive. Why is that you may ask? Because the government has left its mandate to the private sector and NGO’s. This however is a scenario that is likely to change if the likes of the “Unga Revolution” fellows keep up with their recent activities.

This week I was saddened by the statistics on cancer in Kenya. They say 80,000 are diagnosed with the disease every year. Now these are worrying numbers especially baring in mind that Kenya is not fully equipped to deal with this cases. It is therefore applaud able to see the institutions like the African Cancer Foundation coming up. My challenge is however directed at the Minister of Medical Services Prof Anyang Nyongo who is a survivor and the brains behind the foundation.

Prof Nyongo, you occupy a very special if not the most powerful position where policies related to healthcare are concerned. Truth be told, you have the power to change literary anything in this country related to healthcare. As much as many of us applaud your efforts to tackle the disease through the foundation, we wonder if your efforts would be more effective if they were targeted at the public facilities we already have and are more accessible to the citizens, e.g. Kenyatta National Hospital. The hospital is the biggest referral hospital in east and central Africa and so it would make sense that it is fully equipped to handle any cases including cancer.

I wonder how many cancer patients in Kenya alone know of the existence of your foundation and how to go about accessing the services offered by it. How many Kenyans walk into Kenyatta hospitals with cancer only for the doctors to send them back home because they are unable to diagnose the disease. Prof Nyongo, if your objective is to change the healthcare sector in Kenya to benefit its citizens, then use the powers at your disposal as the minister of medical services to change public institutions. Otherwise if you the appointed representative does not do it, who else will?