Healthcare workers in the country have been urged to embrace routine cancer screening to enable early diagnosis and timely treatment. 

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Mercy Mwangangi said statistics from the ministry indicate a growing number among health workers diagnosed with cancer. 

Mwangangi said despite being front liners and awareness creators on the importance of screening, very few were bothered with knowing their status. 

Speaking during  Nakuru Oncology Centre third anniversary celebrations,  she said healthcare providers are not proactive enough in going for cancer screening. 

“It is important that even as we speak about cancer and create awareness to Kenyans, you need to ensure you get screened and know your status,” she said. 

Capacity building

The Ministry of Health’s data on cancer indicates about 40,000 new cases of cancer are recorded in the country  annually leading to 28,000 deaths. 

She said the Ministry has embarked on building capacity for healthcare workers especially on cervical and breast cancer screening. 

The programme, the CAS said will be able to cover treatment of precancerous conditions adding that they have trained at least 36 Trainer of Trainers, who will in turn train 300 medics in 25 counties. 

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui admitted that the journey has not been smooth for them adding that a number of residents were being referred to Nairobi and Eldoret. 

He said the centre has given hope to residents of Nakuru and those in the region seeking cancer treatment adding that in a month, a fully functional radiotherapy centre would be com