Isn’t it pain to loose a loved one, more so a young child? Has cancer ever robbed you a loved one?
Cancer, also called malignancy, is an abnormal growth of cells. There are more than 100 types of cancer, including breast cancer, skin cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Symptoms vary depending on the type. Cancer treatment may include chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery.
Both children and adults can suffer from the disease, which is expensive to treat.
Kenyatta national hospital has been giving treatment to the patients, mostly children for a long period of time now.Cancer drugs for children receiving treatment at the facility have run out, putting the lives of the young ones at risk.
Parents are now forced to buy the drugs expensively from private pharmacies and for those who cannot afford, their children are skipping treatment.
The problem is said to have started over two months ago.
According to Sunday Nation, Parents who have been nursing their children at the hospital for the last one year said that the shortage started between July and August.
The parents called upon the government to supply drugs so that their children can continue with their treatment cycles.
The paediatric cancer wards at KNH no doubt are quiet places. There are roughly 200 children in the three cancer wards. Many of them come from poor, rural families. They do not have health insurance and cannot even afford to buy the drugs that are sold exorbitantly in chemists.
The drugs and drips prescribed to the children include Vincristine, Doxorubicin, Metacapurine, Allopurinol, Cytoplastin and Cyclophosphamide.
Ms Carol Omondi is afraid that she might lose her daughter any time. The doctor told her last month that the tumour had grown and they needed to change the drugs, which she was required to buy.
When they were admitted on July 3, the child was to get 12 cycles of chemotherapy, but they have only managed five since they do not have the money for the rest of the sessions.
“For the first two months, the treatment was smooth but the last two months, I have literally been struggling to make ends meet. It is very unfortunate, God forbid that I will lose my child because I can’t afford her treatment,” she told the Sunday Nation.
The child has lost her eyesight and cannot walk and she now depends on chemotherapy to survive. She is suffering from Neuroblastoma cancer, which can develop in the stomach, chest, neck, pelvis and bones. Children aged five or younger are the most affected. Will the government intervene to save the situation?