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{
    "id": 1017784,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1017784/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 368,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui West, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Edith Nyenze",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13513,
        "legal_name": "Edith Nyenze",
        "slug": "edith-nyenze"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. At the outset, let me support my colleague, Hon. (Ms.) Gladys Wanga, for bringing this Motion. It is a very important one. I do not want to go into details as I say this because it might make me emotional. The Government has declared cancer a national disaster. The Government should focus on cancer management. It is very disturbing that even Members with good insurance covers die because of cancer. It is very unfortunate because they access services from the best hospitals in Kenya such as the Nairobi Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital. One might seek treatment in a hospital, and instead of them diagnosing cancer in its early stages, they keep treating the wrong illness. When cancer is at an advanced stage, they tell you it is cancer. They even tell you the number of years you have to live. It is very shocking that they do not diagnose cancer in its early stages. If cancer is declared a national disaster, the doctors will take it seriously. We also should invest in research. We will also reduce the number of people travelling abroad to seek treatment. It is only a small number of people who can afford to seek treatment abroad and they can only do so when cancer is at an advanced stage and nothing can be done. Once this is done, the Government should allocate more funds to train oncologists because they are very few. As indicated by my colleagues, many people are dying from cancer. There is a lot of hopelessness especially when it comes to cancer treatment. They advise people to avoid meat, smoking, alcohol and practise safe sex and so many other theories, but you find people in the villages being diagnosed with cancer. It is shocking because those people in the village do not eat meat and they are very active because of working in their farms. Which meat and exercises are they talking about? You find a person who has never smoked and taken alcohol being diagnosed with cancer. The Government should declare cancer a national disaster so that more focus is put in its management. I have friends from the USA and other parts of the world with very advanced health systems, diagnosed with cancer in early stages, but got treated and are now free from cancer. In Kenya, we go to the best hospitals that cannot even diagnose cancer in its early stages. The Government should really focus on cancer management."
}