Nakuru County Opens A New Regional Treatment Centre At The Nakuru Teaching And Referral Hospital

The Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital in Nakuru County unveiled a multimillion-shilling regional cancer treatment unit on Monday.

The new facility, in collaboration with the national government, will provide radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Nakuru Governor’s Remarks:

Governor Lee Kinyanjui, who spoke at the occasion, said the centre brings hope to cancer patients and their families in the South Rift region.

He said that many individuals have perished as a result of a lack of access to such institutions. More so, there is excessive treatment fees.

“The cancer centre was a small unit when we first opened it.” As they were offering chemotherapy, it grew in terms of numbers. This was for not only people in our county but also people from other counties,” he said.

We also realized that one part of treatment that we lacked here was radiotherapy, so we established the centre in collaboration with the [Ministry of Health].”

Mr Kinyanjui, on the other hand, urged the government to find measures to subsidize cancer treatment. He claims that the cost of therapy cripples families.

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He expressed regret that many cancer patients required to have therapy do not seek assistance because they cannot pay for it.

According to Ms Christine Mugo, executive director of the Kenya Network of Cancer Organizations, the majority of cancer patients rely on public health institutions for their cancer treatment.

On June 6, 2022, a CT Simulation Machine at the Regional Cancer Center at the Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Ms Mugo praised the government for improving cancer treatment services. However, she encouraged officials to complete other regional radiotherapy centres sooner rather than later. This is to relieve strain on the three national referral facilities that provide such services.

“Cancer is a concern since six people are diagnosed with cancer every hour in Kenya,” she stated.

“Losing one patient to cancer every 15 minutes is simply unacceptable. We must address the issues that unfairly stand in the way of Kenyans getting cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.”