Cancer is undoubtedly one of the deadliest diseases in the Kenya.
If diagnosed with the disease, the treatment process involves expensive and painful procedures that can easily drain the family financially.
Now, Deputy President William Ruto is rooting for early cancer screening as the government improves strategies to battle the killer disease.
Speaking at Rubate Primary School in Chuka/Igambang’ombe on Friday, Mr Ruto said screening helps medics detect the disease early.
“We need to educate our people on the importance of vising hospitals for screening of cancer, because if detected in its early stages it can be successfully treated,” he said during the funeral of Tharaka-Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki’s mother Jennifer Cianjagi who died of cancer.
He said the universal healthcare programme is a sure way of combating the disease because all Kenyans will get access to quality and affordable medical care.
Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya expressed the need to declare the disease a national disaster so that it can be given more focus in terms of resources.
Mr Oparanya, the Kakamega governor, said cancer should be reined in because it has caused the death of many people.
“The two levels of government should sit down and extensively discuss how to fight cancer, which has become a notorious killer of our people,” he said at the ceremony.
Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi urged the national government to make sure the National Cancer Institute, the body managing cancer-related activities, plays its role well to prevent more deaths.
While governors Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) and Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo Marakwet) called for more funding.