Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The commissioning of the state-of-the- art, CyberKnife treatment centre is a game changer in curbing the cancer menace, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi says.

Mudavadi said the CyberKnife treatment centre launched at Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) on Monday is a major stride towards revolutionising cancer treatment not only in the country but also in the region.

 “There is a famous saying that ‘you have executed something with the precision of the surgeon’. Now we get a new vocabulary and we shall be talking of CyberKnife precision. Listening to experts, they have told us that the CyberKnife can be as precise as a single hair strand, then that tells you that indeed technology can take us very far,” said Mudavadi.

Evolving competition

With such advancements in technology, and with the ever-evolving global competition, he said Kenya now stands at an advantageous position as far as embracing technology in the health sector is concerned. He however said that so much more has to be done by Kenyans to achieve and realize the much-needed progress not only in the health sector but also in other sectors of the economy.

Technological innovation

“This is indeed a milestone and it tells us that Kenyans can achieve a lot if we are focused, if we can have that CyberKnife precision then we can go places if we match such technological innovations in other sectors,” the former Vice-President noted.

Cancer being the third leading cause of death in Kenya.

Research shows that the CyberKnife treatment delivers radiation therapy with precision to cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, with medical experts saying it will offer an alternative to convention cancer treatment.

The former Deputy Prime Minister said the pain that comes with cancer – physical, emotional and financial – calls for a collective effort from both the government, global partners, private sector in various sectors to support such initiatives as the establishment of the CyberKnife centre.

“Some of these diseases bankrupt families. Many families have gone to ruin because either they have not been able to access this kind of medical service at an affordable cost or because it is not there at all,” regretted Mudavadi.

He described launch of the centre as a bold step in making Kenya one of the first to have this technology in the region.

In Africa, Kenya becomes the second country after Egypt to have such a world-class and state of the art cancer treatment facility.

The CyberKnife system uses advanced technologies to track tumors in the body, while its unique robotic design keeps the radiation on target even while the tumor moves. Before delivering the radiation beam, the CyberKnife System is the only device that verifies the exact tumor position then adjusts the robot to precisely target the tumor. This ensures radiation is delivered to where the tumor is, not to where it was moments before.