Mpenda wachaga
Member
- Oct 5, 2018
- 56
- 19
Hope alive for patients as city
hospital installs modern cancer
scanner
By Mercy Adhiambo
Published: Nov 4th 2018 at 00:04, Updated: November 4th
2018 at 00:04
Shem Onchoke, hospital radiographers prepares a patient for CT
scan at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital on May 04,2015.
The hospital has made larger strides in the health sector that
has seen patients from within and without the county access the
services. (Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)
SUMMARY
Crucial machine to save many Kenyans from the pain of
expensive trips to India
The machine, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa, will
serve 10 patients a day
Jane Frances Angalia watched last week’s news on the launch of
the first imaging test machine for PET-CT scan services with
enthusiasm.
It had been a long time coming, and she says people who have
battled cancer or taken care of cancer patients would internalise
the excitement she felt over the arrival of the machine.
“I know families that have been counting days since the
announcement of the possibility of the country getting the
machine last year,” she says.
ALSO READ: MP proposes State funding for terminal diseases
The Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography
(PET-CT) scanner and Cyclotron enables physicians to study the
body in extraordinary detail, allowing them to diagnose diseases
early and plan the most effective course of treatment. It is the
first of its kind in East and Central Africa.
Heart diseases
Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, said it invested more than Sh600
million to secure the machine that will help in the diagnosis and
treatment of cancer, heart disease and other illness.
Advertisement
Your opinion is valuable. Take this quick survey to help us
improve the website and content
For Ms Angalia, the machine could save Kenyans from the agony
she underwent when she was diagnosed with triple negative
breast cancer. It is a rare form of aggressive cancerthat is
difficult to treat as it does not respond to hormonal therapy,
unlike other forms. Hers was 3B, a late stage diagnosis.
“The doctor advised that I start treatment the next day.
Everything was happening so fast, I could not process it,” she
says. Before then, she was a part time lecturer, studying for her
doctorate in mass communication.
The future held so much promise, until cancercame and
interrupted everything. It started with an itch in the armpit.
Several trips to the doctor revealed nothing, and when she was
finally diagnosed in 2014, the cancer cells were rapidly spreading.
ALSO READ: Diseases that will kill more in East Africa by 2040
“If the machine was here earlier, maybe I would have gotten a
diagnosis sooner,” she says.
Even after she had undergone treatment for one and a half years
in Kenya, she had to book for a PET scan in India to check
whether the cancercells had been cleared. It is a journey that
many Kenyans make due to unavailability of the machine. Those
undergoing treatment have to make annual trips abroad to
ascertain that the medication they are given in Kenya is working.
Her last trip is this year and she is raising funds for it.
“I would have loved to be a beneficiary of the machine that was
brought to Aga Khan, but my treatment was scheduled long
before I knew it will be launched,” she says.
Patients started making bookings for the facility as soon as Aga
Khan announced they were installing it last year. The hospital,
through their director of communication Eunice Mwangi, said it
will be handling 10 patients a day.
ALSO READ: Experts link throat cancer to consumption of
traditional brew
The PET-CT scanner will also be used in the diagnosis and
management of neurological conditions such as dementia and
epilepsy. The services will cost Sh69,500 and patients will access
it through a doctor’s recommendation. NHIF has committed to
pay for its members.
Cheaper rates
Richard Kiundi knows the struggle it takes for one to seek better
health care from home. He started his on and off travels to India
in 2014 after being diagnosed with cancer. His last trip was this
year when the scan revealed the cancer cells had been
suppressed. Every trip would cost him an average of Sh15,000
per week.
“If it can be done here at a cheaper rate, then it is a good step,”
he says.
Grace Ooko, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in Kisumu
says when her doctor recommended PET- CT scan, she was
hopeful that he would send her to Aga Khan. The doctor
recommended India, saying public hospitals do not recommend a
specific hospital, but give referral and allow patients to choose
where is convenient.
“We are waiting to see when the scan will start working, and
how many stories of hope we will get from the facility,” Grace
says.
The CEO of Aga Khan University Shawn Bolouki said the scanner
is timely, since cancer, heart disease and other non-
communicable diseases now account for nearly three in 10
deaths in Kenya, according to the World Health Organisation.
Kenya is the fourth country in Africa to have such a facility after
Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.
ALSO READ: Why poverty is as good as death sentence for
cancer patients
A good move I hope NHIF will keep its word and service the bill for its members, this disease is torturous and exhausting
hospital installs modern cancer
scanner
By Mercy Adhiambo
Published: Nov 4th 2018 at 00:04, Updated: November 4th
2018 at 00:04
Shem Onchoke, hospital radiographers prepares a patient for CT
scan at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital on May 04,2015.
The hospital has made larger strides in the health sector that
has seen patients from within and without the county access the
services. (Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)
SUMMARY
Crucial machine to save many Kenyans from the pain of
expensive trips to India
The machine, the first of its kind in East and Central Africa, will
serve 10 patients a day
Jane Frances Angalia watched last week’s news on the launch of
the first imaging test machine for PET-CT scan services with
enthusiasm.
It had been a long time coming, and she says people who have
battled cancer or taken care of cancer patients would internalise
the excitement she felt over the arrival of the machine.
“I know families that have been counting days since the
announcement of the possibility of the country getting the
machine last year,” she says.
ALSO READ: MP proposes State funding for terminal diseases
The Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography
(PET-CT) scanner and Cyclotron enables physicians to study the
body in extraordinary detail, allowing them to diagnose diseases
early and plan the most effective course of treatment. It is the
first of its kind in East and Central Africa.
Heart diseases
Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, said it invested more than Sh600
million to secure the machine that will help in the diagnosis and
treatment of cancer, heart disease and other illness.
Advertisement
Your opinion is valuable. Take this quick survey to help us
improve the website and content
For Ms Angalia, the machine could save Kenyans from the agony
she underwent when she was diagnosed with triple negative
breast cancer. It is a rare form of aggressive cancerthat is
difficult to treat as it does not respond to hormonal therapy,
unlike other forms. Hers was 3B, a late stage diagnosis.
“The doctor advised that I start treatment the next day.
Everything was happening so fast, I could not process it,” she
says. Before then, she was a part time lecturer, studying for her
doctorate in mass communication.
The future held so much promise, until cancercame and
interrupted everything. It started with an itch in the armpit.
Several trips to the doctor revealed nothing, and when she was
finally diagnosed in 2014, the cancer cells were rapidly spreading.
ALSO READ: Diseases that will kill more in East Africa by 2040
“If the machine was here earlier, maybe I would have gotten a
diagnosis sooner,” she says.
Even after she had undergone treatment for one and a half years
in Kenya, she had to book for a PET scan in India to check
whether the cancercells had been cleared. It is a journey that
many Kenyans make due to unavailability of the machine. Those
undergoing treatment have to make annual trips abroad to
ascertain that the medication they are given in Kenya is working.
Her last trip is this year and she is raising funds for it.
“I would have loved to be a beneficiary of the machine that was
brought to Aga Khan, but my treatment was scheduled long
before I knew it will be launched,” she says.
Patients started making bookings for the facility as soon as Aga
Khan announced they were installing it last year. The hospital,
through their director of communication Eunice Mwangi, said it
will be handling 10 patients a day.
ALSO READ: Experts link throat cancer to consumption of
traditional brew
The PET-CT scanner will also be used in the diagnosis and
management of neurological conditions such as dementia and
epilepsy. The services will cost Sh69,500 and patients will access
it through a doctor’s recommendation. NHIF has committed to
pay for its members.
Cheaper rates
Richard Kiundi knows the struggle it takes for one to seek better
health care from home. He started his on and off travels to India
in 2014 after being diagnosed with cancer. His last trip was this
year when the scan revealed the cancer cells had been
suppressed. Every trip would cost him an average of Sh15,000
per week.
“If it can be done here at a cheaper rate, then it is a good step,”
he says.
Grace Ooko, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in Kisumu
says when her doctor recommended PET- CT scan, she was
hopeful that he would send her to Aga Khan. The doctor
recommended India, saying public hospitals do not recommend a
specific hospital, but give referral and allow patients to choose
where is convenient.
“We are waiting to see when the scan will start working, and
how many stories of hope we will get from the facility,” Grace
says.
The CEO of Aga Khan University Shawn Bolouki said the scanner
is timely, since cancer, heart disease and other non-
communicable diseases now account for nearly three in 10
deaths in Kenya, according to the World Health Organisation.
Kenya is the fourth country in Africa to have such a facility after
Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.
ALSO READ: Why poverty is as good as death sentence for
cancer patients
A good move I hope NHIF will keep its word and service the bill for its members, this disease is torturous and exhausting