Meru County Government defends Cancer Screening Initiative

Meru County government has come out to defend the Free Cancer Testing and Treatment initiative which was launched four months ago after some members of the county assembly questioned its acquisition.

Speaking in Mitunguu Health Dispensary in Imenti South Sub County, the Chief Executive for Health, William Muraah said that the health sector and especially the cancer initiative should not be politicized as it is meant to help the people of Meru, challenging the MCAs who questioned the initiative, to provide an alternative if they had one.

Muraah has also noted that the initiative was necessary because the county has recorded a high number of cancer cases and that the patients were initially forced to seek medication from Kenyatta National Hospital which is expensive.
“We have spent Sh.6.7Million to buy medicine for cancer treatment and they are buying new equipment from Israel each costing $500 which will help in combating the high prevalence of cancer cases in Meru County” said Muraah.

On her side, Meru County First Lady, Phoebe Munya who is the patron of Cancer Voices in the county revealed that the total number of people screened from February this year  in different sub-counties including  Igembe South, Tigania East, Imenti Central and Buuri, has reached 44,001.

“Out of the 19,639 women screened for Cervical Cancer, 253 have been referred for Pap smear, 18,717 screened for Breast Cancer, 320 referred for fna, 4,705 screened for Prostate Cancer with 348 referrals all to Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital,” she said.