KNH receives advanced cancer testing machine

Kenyatta National Hospital will now be able to offer advanced tests for breast cancer after the facility received an immunohistochemistry analyzer from the Ministry of Health and Roche Pharmaceuticals.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta unveiled the medical equipment on Tuesday at the public facility. The medical equipment is used to test for “tumour markers” in about seven types of cancer.

The markers are proteins that are seen in the blood and the urine of anyone with cancer, and are of clinical significance in the pathology of breast cancer because they predict how aggressive the cancer is and how it will respond to certain drugs.

Now, the hospital has become the first public facility and the third after Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, and Lancet Laboratories along Ngong Road to own the equipment.

However, the new machine at KNH is the largest in the country.

Speaking at the launch, the First Lady stressed the importance of making headway in breast cancer diagnosis in the fight against the “ruthless killer” disease.

The disease is the second most prevalent cancer in Kenya. Generally, cancer is the third killer in Kenya claiming about 27,000 people a year, according to 2012 estimates.

Health ministry estimates that there are at least 4,500 new cases of breast cancer every year, mostly at advanced stages.

KNH’s chief executive officer Lily Koros said that the machine will help unburden the facility since most people diagnosed with cancer seek treatment at the hospital.

Ms Koros said that KNH attends to at least 120 cancer patients on daily but the number could go as high as 150 people.

Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopas Mailu said that it was alarming that few people were screened for cancer, presenting a major challenge in the fight against the disease.

“Only 14 per cent of women are screened for breast cancer and only 3 per cent for prostate cancer,” said Dr Maillu.

Dr Mailu decried the high cost of cancer treatment even with subsidization.