Uganda faces a growing cancer crisis, with more than 36,000 new cases reported each year and more than 28,000 deaths occurring within the year of diagnosis, according to Dr. Jackson Orem, the executive director of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI).
The Institute continues to operate on an annual budget allocation of Shs 120 billion, which is just 24 per cent of the Shs 500 billion required for effective operation. If such a devastating death toll and surge in cases are not treated as a national emergency, one must ask — who will rescue the people?
My own father succumbed to Leukaemia (May his soul rest in peace) in October last year. I remember vividly how straining it was for us as a family, both financially and psychologically.
To anyone who has ever stepped into a cancer unit, you understand what real pain looks like. It still haunts me today; I often wish I could have done more, but I was only a boy. The social contract we hold with our government demands that matters of urgency receive the attention they deserve.
When thousands of citizens die, the number “28,000” should not be treated as mere zeros on paper; they represent real people, real lives lost. Unless those in power consider citizens to be of zero value, there can be no justification for the state’s current inaction.
Cancer treatment remains one of the most expensive forms of healthcare, and yet the majority of Ugandans live on less than a dollar a day. Expecting them to shoulder these treatment costs is akin to sending them to dig their own graves, since the odds are stacked hopelessly against them.
Recently, Parliament debated the procurement of a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, an essential machine that detects early signs of cancer, heart disease, and brain conditions.
Yet, many people die because their cancer is often detected when it’s already in its final stage. This machine is therefore more than a necessity; it’s a lifeline. However, the delay in its procurement revealed shocking irregularities, inflated budgets, and bureaucratic inefficiency.
It is sickening that we seem intent on exploiting every public need for personal gain. We are often told that the state is poor, yet we somehow find the money to fund endless, questionable projects such as the Lubowa Hospital, and even enough to embezzle.
We seem to be giants in corruption but dwarfs in prioritizing the right to health of our people. In CEHURD, Prof. Ben Twinomugisha, Rhoda Kukiriza, and Inziku Valente v. Attorney General [Constitutional Petition No. 16 of 2011], the Constitutional Court emphasized the need for the state to uphold the right to health.
Yet little has changed. The court had initially dismissed the petition on the ground that it raised a “political question” beyond its purview – an absurdity, considering that the Constitution itself mandates the protection of life and dignity.
Sadly, our courts often shield the state rather than defend the people from whom they derive their power — but that discussion is for another day. Among the most prevalent cancers in Uganda, cervical cancer and breast cancer account for more than 19 per cent and 8.3 per cent of total cases respectively, meaning that women are still the most affected.
It is commendable that cancer treatment units have been expanded beyond Kampala to Gulu, Mbarara, Mbale, Arua, and even Mayuge district for rural outreach. However, the success of this expansion depends on adequate equipment, staffing, and maintenance.
When we speak of the cancer crisis, we speak of a reality that could strike any one of us, or someone we love. No one is safe. That is why awareness is equally crucial, so that people feel encouraged to seek screening and early diagnosis.
But before they step into those hospitals, there should be a guarantee of survival and not despair. Today, a cancer diagnosis in Uganda often feels like a death sentence, and people turn to prayer, not medicine, for there is little hope in the system.
If those managing and directing the financial and policy apparatus of our nation had been more attentive, perhaps many would not be orphans, widows, or widowers today.
Perhaps we would be closer to achieving the set targets in the global fight against cancer in the areas of research, prevention, and treatment. Maybe, just maybe. But if not now, then when?
To the doctors who continue to treat patients under terrible conditions, kudos. You are not thanked, nor paid, enough.
The writer is a law student and activist.
This is why the young MUST ensure the tribalistic system that makes Ugandans so so powerless face to Rwandese Museveni is dismentaled, as all Ugandans need is their UNITY to take back the zone formed by their tribal lands, them put in place the kind of government they want!
Rwandese Museveni won’t leave, unless Ugandans, as ONE PEOPLE will want him & family to! So, why still go along with the inhuman tribalistic system, go for fake useless elections that only protect & ensure the Rwandese ownership of Uganda & tax money, control of every institution?
How many Ugandans of Museveni’s age still live, how do their children, grand kids live?
Ugandans please, NO to the tribalistic system & UNITY under just ONE of you, are all you need, if you don’t want Rwandese Museveni any more, so what are you waiting for?
If i may say ugandans especially those entrusted into leadership position have turned into the devils we need to put on the cross they are all greed and selfish as soon as they get to those positions they think of nothing than embezzling public funds for their own benefits. The government releases money to particular departments but no one ever knows where the money goes and its no one but our fellow ugandans pocketing that money as the ” proletariats” live with endless suffering . Dear leaders where did the sense of humanity in us as Africans go?
Where did the sense of unity and love for one another as held by our ancestors dispear to ?
Can we please live as the ugandans , Africans we are and serve public interest than personal desires. It hurts how our own people have become more hurtless as the colonialists .
Your article resonates with a painful truth too many Ugandan families now know. My aunt was part of that staggering statistic, and we too experienced the brutal financial and emotional drain of seeking treatment in an underfunded system. You definitely right to frame this not as a misfortune, but as a current governance failure.
Learning the delay of the PET scan, amidst inflated budgets and corruption, is a damning symbol of the state’s priorities. How can we speak of development when citizens are literally sent to die because essential equipment is a subject for kickbacks, not care? It’s further disturbing that this must be first debated on the floor of parliament.
We must move beyond awareness and into relentless accountability. Thank you for channeling your grief into a powerful call to action. We must all demand that our leaders see the 28,000 not as zeros, but as fathers, mothers, and aunts whose lives had immeasurable value.
Well stated Josh! All lives matter.
Jibril, I honestly don’t know why you still think there is something to salvage. The Uganda health system is dead:
1. The cancer institute is seriously underfunded
2. I have seen upcountry cancer patients rot at Mulago waiting for treatment
3. In all hospitals in Uganda many patients sleep on the floor
4. In some hospitals men and women share wards
5. I have seen hospitals where patients share beds
6. Most medicines are either wholly nonexistent or grossly inadequate
7. There is virtually no emergency medical services for ordinary citizens. Only connected individuals are airlifted to private hospitals from an accident.
8. The practice of taking all accident victims to the morgue for triage is abominable. No wonder many victims are later found alive in the morgue. If lucky.
9. Throwing accident victims under the feet of patrol officers is normalized.
10. Throwing the dead, bleeding and other victims under patrol seats is normalized
11. Most hospitals look like places you go to contract disease or die. They don’t even qualify to be hospice centers.
12. Most ordinary Ugandans are resigned to fate. One minute away from a fatal illness.
13. TRY VISITING A TOILET IN ANY HOSPITAL IN UGANDA
Wow this article is really captivating and it has really dropped down a sparking message for the concerned stakeholders. I believe it is high time for the government to chase the evil owl and look into social egalitarian needs at large looking into health care as a crucial part to revive ASAP .
I cant leave without thanking Jibril , kudos, for the enlightment ✋