[ad_1]
Children receiving cancer treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) are living in pain after the facility run out of crucial cancer drugs.
The hospital has not been supplied with the drugs in the last two months, forcing parents to buy them expensively from private pharmacies while those who can’t afford are forced to skip treatment, says a report on Sunday Nation.
There are at least 200 children currently admitted to the pediatric cancer wards at the country’s largest public hospital, with majority of them hailing from poor families.
The publication says most of the parents do not have health insurance and cannot afford to buy the expensive drugs which include Vincristine, Doxorubicin, Metacapurine, Allopurinol, Cytoplastin and Cyclophosphamide.
Ms Carol Omondi says she is afraid she might lose her daughter any time if something is not done. Her daughter is suffering from Neuroblastoma cancer.
“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 tells the Sunday Nation.
She has since taken to social media to plead with well-wishers to help raise money to buy drugs for her daughter.
“Hello Kenyans, I am a mother of a four-year-old girl who is suffering from cancer (Neuroblastoma). I have to be with her at the hospital since her condition cannot allow me to do any work. A tumour has spread all over her body, including the brain and this has since interfered with her eyesight,” she says on Facebook.
“My child has missed the life-saving drugs that are out of stock at the hospital. We are forced to buy but I do not have the money. A tumour is spreading so fast she cannot survive without chemotherapy. Please help me in any way possible to bring my daughter back to life,” She adds.
She says she needs between Sh106,000 and Sh160,000 for a chemotherapy cycle.
The Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations Chairman David Makumi says the pattern of missing drugs is worrying.
“Cancer is not like malaria where one type of treatment cures the disease. If you cannot cater for the full treatment, you would rather do without it,” he says.
KHN Communications Manager Simon Ithai says some cancer drugs are not stocked at the facility.
“What I know is that there are some drugs that we don’t stock in our facility. Send me the names of the drugs and then I will talk to the doctor and call you back,” he told Daily Nation.
[ad_2]
Source link
