Little hope for cancer patients in Uganda
Jun 29, 2008
AFTER giving birth by caesarean section last year, Hellen Musoke, felt a lump, the size of a banana, under her ribs. The doctors knew about it, but sent her home, saying it might be a bruise. In a week’s time, Musoke was back to the hospital, terribly ill, swollen with fluid, vomiting and anaemic.
By Frederick Womakuyu
AFTER giving birth by caesarean section last year, Hellen Musoke, felt a lump, the size of a banana, under her ribs. The doctors knew about it, but sent her home, saying it might be a bruise. In a week’s time, Musoke was back to the hospital, terribly ill, swollen with fluid, vomiting and anaemic.
She needed a blood transfusion and suffered from severe abdominal pain. Tests revealed she had colon cancer that had spread to her liver and was now at stage four, the final phase of the disease.
Hellen died before she could undergo an operation. Her husband, Musoke, blames her death on the healthcare system in Uganda. “With tears in his eyes, the doctor said my wife had about six more months to live, but she died that day,†Musoke said.
He says if Hellen had been diagnosed with cancer earlier, she would have survived. “Our health sector is rotten, under-staffed and ill-equipped. The hospitals have become death zones, especially for cancer patients,†he laments.
Prof Henry Wabinga, the head of Pathology at the Cancer Unit, Mulago Hospital, says 170 men out of every 100,000 and 171 women out of 100,000 in Uganda succumb to cancer annually.
Twenty-one women die of breast cancer and 38 men die of karposis sarcoma (skin cancer) annually after being on treatment for five years. Twenty women die of karposis sarcoma annually after being on treatment for five years.
Wabinga says in Uganda, 42 women die from cervical cancer, the most common type of cancer, annually out of every 100,0000 after being on treatment for five years.
In advanced countries like the US, where cancer services are up-to-date with enough doctors, good equipment and massive funding from government, 90% of patients with breast cancer survive compared to Uganda’s 20%.
“In Uganda, cancer patients lack drugs and equipment. They need specialised equipment for chemotherapy and radiation, or sometimes surgery,†he adds. “This is not possible in many hospitals in Uganda, with the exception of Mulago.â€
Wabinga says the increase in cancer cases is a result of lack of awareness by the patients. “In Uganda, the most common cancers are breast, cervical and Karposis sarcoma. We can handle these diseases in their early stages.
Beyond that, we can’t manage because we lack the necesary equipment.
Besides, most patients are not aware of cancer signs and symptoms and, therefore, end up at the health centre in the late stages of the disease.â€
The problem is that most patients fear to be diagnosed with cancer, so they stop going to hospital when they realise they have cancer.
“When we recommend treatment of cancer such as cutting off the breast(s) in advanced stages of breast cancer, the patients do not go back to hospital. This shows that cancer awareness programmes in Uganda are not intensive and people are not aware of the dangers of the disease,†he adds.
Wabinga says cancer, a disease that kills many of its victims in the late stages, can be overwhelming to treat. “Patients are often stunned when they learn that they need to see more than one doctor; a surgeon, a specialist in radiation and chemotherapy.â€
Diagnosis and treatment require a series of appointments. Doctors do not always agree with patients, says Dr Peter Muhindo of the Cancer Unit in Mulago.
“Patients may find that at the worst time in their lives, when they are ill, frightened and most vulnerable, they have to seek second opinions on the biopsies and therapy, struggle to get money for treatment and sort out complex treatment options.â€
The decisions can be agonising because the quality of care for cancer patients is not up-to-date.
AFTER giving birth by caesarean section last year, Hellen Musoke, felt a lump, the size of a banana, under her ribs. The doctors knew about it, but sent her home, saying it might be a bruise. In a week’s time, Musoke was back to the hospital, terribly ill, swollen with fluid, vomiting and anaemic.
She needed a blood transfusion and suffered from severe abdominal pain. Tests revealed she had colon cancer that had spread to her liver and was now at stage four, the final phase of the disease.
Hellen died before she could undergo an operation. Her husband, Musoke, blames her death on the healthcare system in Uganda. “With tears in his eyes, the doctor said my wife had about six more months to live, but she died that day,†Musoke said.
He says if Hellen had been diagnosed with cancer earlier, she would have survived. “Our health sector is rotten, under-staffed and ill-equipped. The hospitals have become death zones, especially for cancer patients,†he laments.
Prof Henry Wabinga, the head of Pathology at the Cancer Unit, Mulago Hospital, says 170 men out of every 100,000 and 171 women out of 100,000 in Uganda succumb to cancer annually.
Twenty-one women die of breast cancer and 38 men die of karposis sarcoma (skin cancer) annually after being on treatment for five years. Twenty women die of karposis sarcoma annually after being on treatment for five years.
Wabinga says in Uganda, 42 women die from cervical cancer, the most common type of cancer, annually out of every 100,0000 after being on treatment for five years.
In advanced countries like the US, where cancer services are up-to-date with enough doctors, good equipment and massive funding from government, 90% of patients with breast cancer survive compared to Uganda’s 20%.
“In Uganda, cancer patients lack drugs and equipment. They need specialised equipment for chemotherapy and radiation, or sometimes surgery,†he adds. “This is not possible in many hospitals in Uganda, with the exception of Mulago.â€
Wabinga says the increase in cancer cases is a result of lack of awareness by the patients. “In Uganda, the most common cancers are breast, cervical and Karposis sarcoma. We can handle these diseases in their early stages.
Beyond that, we can’t manage because we lack the necesary equipment.
Besides, most patients are not aware of cancer signs and symptoms and, therefore, end up at the health centre in the late stages of the disease.â€
The problem is that most patients fear to be diagnosed with cancer, so they stop going to hospital when they realise they have cancer.
“When we recommend treatment of cancer such as cutting off the breast(s) in advanced stages of breast cancer, the patients do not go back to hospital. This shows that cancer awareness programmes in Uganda are not intensive and people are not aware of the dangers of the disease,†he adds.
Wabinga says cancer, a disease that kills many of its victims in the late stages, can be overwhelming to treat. “Patients are often stunned when they learn that they need to see more than one doctor; a surgeon, a specialist in radiation and chemotherapy.â€
Diagnosis and treatment require a series of appointments. Doctors do not always agree with patients, says Dr Peter Muhindo of the Cancer Unit in Mulago.
“Patients may find that at the worst time in their lives, when they are ill, frightened and most vulnerable, they have to seek second opinions on the biopsies and therapy, struggle to get money for treatment and sort out complex treatment options.â€
The decisions can be agonising because the quality of care for cancer patients is not up-to-date.