The dream of setting up an ultra-modern cancer center in Kisii County has come alive after bids for the construction of the facility were finally floated. And the facility expected to make Kisii a regional health hub will help reduce congestion at the Kenyatta National Hospital jammed by many cancer related referrals.
The project, a partnership between Kisii county, the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Saudi Fund For Development (SFD) and G.O.K is expected to be operational before 2022.
This will be the third cancer centre in Kenya after those at KNH and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret.
The unveiling of this Cancer treatment centre project has been informed by the rising cases of cancer related deaths in the country. It is estimated that over 39,000 new Cancer cases are reported in Kenya every year and according to World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, 27,000 cases of cancer infections reported are from Western region of Kenya.
The Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret can handle about 9,000 cancer patients in a year while the rest of the patients visit private hospitals locally and abroad. This pushes a number of patients to the brink of death owing to inflated costs in accessing cancer treatment.
Cancer treatment has been a mirage to many resulting in over 13,000 cancer related deaths annually, according to the 2014 Kenya Economic & Household Survey.
This is why, Governor James Ongwae, confronted with these facts, coined a project proposal for setting up a cancer center in Kisii which attracted BADEA who together with SFD agreed to co-finance the project to a tune of Sh 2 billion ,with each partner giving Sh 1 billion. The Government of Kenya on its part, chipped in with Sh 280 million. The Kisii county government has already identified the site for the facility and has set up a project implementation unit to that effect. Once actualized Cancer center will serve an estimated population of 10 million persons in Kisii, Nyamira, Migori, Homabay, Kisumu, Kericho and the Trans Mara region of Narok County.
The cancer centre at KTRH will occupy 5,000 square meters of land and will be fully equipped with theatres, four examination rooms, mammograms, an observation ward, waiting rooms, lecture rooms, a control room, and two shielded rooms for x-ray, CT scanner, changing rooms for doctors and staff and patient wards with 40 beds.
The cancer centre will also go a long way in ameliorating the research and teaching efforts being envisaged at KTRH.