Kadaga pushes for cancer machines for all hospitals

KAMPALA - The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has proposed that government immediately embarks on taking cancer screening machines and services to all the district hospitals as part of efforts to combat the deadly disease in the country which is on the rise.

The speaker made the suggestion on Friday while handing over parliament's contribution of sh20million for this year's cancer run scheduled to take place on August 28, 2016.

The Kamuli woman MP narrated an incident last month when while she was in Jinja came to learn that people there and other parts of the country who go for cancer screening have their samples taken to Kampala because there are no cancer screening machines in hospitals within their areas.

"One of the campaigns I will be engaged in together with the MPs is to lobby for cancer screening facilities at least in all the referral hospitals," she pledged.

Elaborating her proposal further, Kadaga cited an example of Ethiopia where they 118 hospitals have cancer screening facilities.

The speaker said the institution of parliament had contributed sh20million for the cancer run to set an example for other institutions and Ugandans to join the efforts initiated by Uganda Rotarians and Centenary Bank.

"We decided to invite you here to dispel the perception that MPs don't care for ordinary people. We have been part of many similar initiatives before. Humanity is our business," Kadaga explained.

The chairman of Uganda Rotary Cancer Program, Stephen Mwanje, explained that the Rotarians started cancer run in 2012 and since then they have been able to build a sh1.5b cancer center in Nsambya Hospital which was completed last year in July.

Mwanje noted they have now embarked on a fundraising through cancer runs and other sources aimed at raising 4million (sh13.6b) dollars to procure the latest linear accelerator cancer machine together with a bunker.

The coordinator of this year's cancer run, Lydia Bujara said apart from the event that will be in Kampala, there will similar cancer run activities in 15 other urban areas in different parts of the country on the same day.

She also notified the public that beginning today (Sunday) they would be providing free cancer screening services in various parts of the country. In Kampala the free services will be in Kasokoso, Kisenyi, and Kawala.

Bujara advised Ugandans to always go for cancer screening because the disease is curable if it is detected early.

Kadaga called out some MPs to declare their commitment to the collective efforts of various stakeholders to fight cancer.

Workers' MP Sam Lyomoki said, "We shall definitely rally behind the speaker in this cause against cancer."

Iki-Iki County MP Robert Kasolo said, "I support the cause because humanity has suffered because of the dangerous cancer disease."

Mityana woman MP Judith Nabakoba said, "I support the cause for cancer run and I will be there to run on August 26, 2016."