When his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Opio thought that was the end; luckily doctors said that it was at the second stage.
Opio, a mason in Kampala, said after waiting for results for two weeks, doctors confirmed the cancer was in its early stages, and his mother was immediately started on treatment.
“It came as a relief when doctors said it could be treated, but she was also told she was supposed to report to the UCI once a month so that doctors could monitor her; the doctors gave her drugs and we went home,” he said.
“There were many endless hospital visits, this greatly drained my savings. One day I met the doctor who had diagnosed my mother. He was happy to see she was responding well to the drugs. But because of the long queues and waiting at Mulago, I asked him to prescribe some drugs so I could buy them at private pharmacies.”
INCONSISTENT SUPPLY
Opio said he got the line drugs at one of the pharmacies in Wandegeya, although they were very expensive.
“When the drugs were almost over, I went back to the same pharmacy, only to be told the drugs were out of stock. After trying some more pharmacies in town, I gave up and we had to go back to the cancer institute,” he said.
Like Opio, there are many people who can supplement government’s cancer efforts by buying their loved ones the prescribed drugs and not overcrowd the cancer institute, but Uganda still has a challenge of supply of these drugs through private pharmacies.
Hellen Kawesa, the deputy director of communications and public affairs at Parliament, and a Rotarian, lost her mother to cancer three years ago. She said that sometimes cancer drugs are not readily available on the market and when they are, they are too expensive.
“We used to get drugs from Cancer Institute but sometimes when they did not have, we would have to buy. We used to spend Shs 400,000 on drugs for chemotherapy alone; if you add other drugs, this can prove to be expensive,” she said.
Kawesa was speaking during the official handover of medical equipment worth Shs 1.4bn to Nsambya hospital’s cancer ward. Rotary Club of Kampala Ssese Islands donated the equipment.
A random, mini survey by The Observer around Kampala revealed that almost all pharmacies around Mulago and Wandegeya claimed to have cancer drugs in stock, but pharmacies in the city centre did not have while others referred me to either UCI or Wandegeya.
Asked why they did not stock cancer drugs, one pharmacist said very few people ask for the drugs and even when they ask, they don’t buy because they are expensive. Pharmacies thus fear to stock drugs expensively, only for them to expire on the shelves.
Dr Edward Ddumba, the medical director, Nsambya hospital, admitted that the lack and inconsistent supply of cancer drugs by private pharmacy owners was derailing the cancer fight and increasing pressure on UCI.
“It is true most private pharmacists don’t stock these drugs, because they are very expensive and have a short shelf life. When they bring drugs, they expect them to be sold immediately,” he said. “These people are in business; you can’t expect them to bring drugs that are not fast-moving and also have a shorter shelf life. They would be making losses.”
Ddumba said: “When one decides to buy cancer drugs, the first time one will have to call a clan meeting to raise the money. The second time one will have to call the whole village to collect money to buy; in short, they are very expensive and pharmacists don’t stock them.”
Uganda has seen increasing numbers of cancer cases of recent. It is estimated that there are about 800,000 cancer cases in the country, with more than 20,000 cases detected each year.
Ddumba said the situation is worsened by the fact that cancer diagnosis and care is limited to Kampala, meaning that many people especially in rural areas can
hardly find care and have to come to UCI or private hospitals such as Nsambya that can only handle only 10 patients a day.
REMEDIES
Ddumba said the first measure in the fight against cancer is to change lifestyle; people should watch what they eat and also do routine check-ups for the disease.
“We have many cars producing dangerous fumes, there is a lot of dust, the food we are eating has a lot of chemicals. We need to grow and eat organic foods and do regular check-ups especially for women,” he said.
Breast and cervical cancers remain the most common among women, while prostate cancer leads the list of tormentors of men when it comes to oncology.
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