Area that could be rich in oil, turns out to be valley of death

• Residents of arid Chalbi desert demand answers after dozens of people die from cancer. If the area is not a dumping site for nuclear waste, what is making the underground water unsafe to drink?

Every month, at least one person dies in Marsabit, Eastern Kenya, sometimes two. And they are not killed by the cattle rustlers the area is notorious for.

They die of cancer.

The deaths are increasingly becoming more of a menace than cattle raiders.

The cancer has wreaked havoc on the people of the vast Chalbi desert and surrounding areas. The people are mainly pastoralists who keep sheep, goats and camels. A few have cattle.

Kargi Location in Laisamis District is the worst affected. Others are Maikona, Kalacha, North Horr, Bubisa and Dukana in Chalbi District.

“We get cases of at least two to three patients from Marsabit every week, who are referred to this hospital for biopsy (further examination). And when they are diagnosed, some but not all, suffer from cancer,” said the medical officer of health at Meru’s Chogoria Mission Hospital, a Dr Odongo.

Most of these patients are later referred to Kenyatta National Hospital but the majority prefer to go back home and wait to die.

Dr Odongo could not give details of the disease, because rules require that he first get permission from the medical board.

No official record

Nevertheless, the medical officer of health in charge of the larger Marsabit, Dr M.S. Ndakalu, is aware of the cases.

“These cases are there. But we have not been able to document them as it is only recently that we got a surgeon (at Marsabit District Hospital) to treat such problems,” said Dr Ndakalu.

Even in the absence of official figures of those who have died of cancer, Kargi Dispensary, run by Marsabit Catholic diocese, has kept the records.

Records from the only health centre in Kargi Location show that 38 people have died of the disease since 2006.

Eleven of them died last year and a similar number in 2006. In 2007 the number was 12. This year, four people had died by June 30, while two others were bedridden at home.

“All these patients first come to our dispensary having the same symptoms and we refer them to Marsabit district hospital. Some are later referred to other health facilities,” said nurse Asunta Galgitelle.

The symptoms include difficulty in swallowing meat, the area’s staple.

“They can only take milk, they say a wound develops in the throat,” Ms Galgitelle told the Nation during a visit to the dispensary.

Most of the victims are men and women over 40 years.