Uasin Gishu Women Representative Gladys Shollei has blasted Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki over plans to construct cancer centres in various parts of the country.
Shollei said it was 'ridiculous' that the CS was focusing her energies and resources on having physical structures in hospitals instead of providing health providers with the necessary training and equipments which will help in detecting early signs of cancer among patients.
"Sicily Kariuki said she is constructing cancer centres across the country… that is a very ridiculous way of dealing with the problem. Brick and mortar does not deal with cancer rather it is the testing equipments and trained personnel who can," she said during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday.
Shollei was referring to Kariuki's pronouncement last year that the government would set-up cancer centres in county and sub-county hospitals across the country, inorder to tame the killer disease which continues to claim lives of many Kenyans.
“One of the things we are doing beyond the one-stop shop is setting up land in consultation with the governors in the respective counties where they will be located," she said as quoted by Business Daily.
The CS said the long-term plan was to establish Kenya as a regional hub for cancer treatment and, as a result, make health sector a major foreign exchange earner.
“We anticipate that if we package the strategies and interventions that we have in the next five years, we should also be attracting tourists who are coming here for medical tourism. That is the vision that we have," Kariuki said.
However, despite the pledge, the government has done very little in terms of establishing cancer centres which has lead a big number of Kenyans to travel abroad to seek treatment.