Rwanda is set to construct accommodation facility for cancer patients that are undergoing radiotherapy treatment at the Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH).
Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga, who are in charge of the project announced the reports and said that they will there was need for a transit centre in Kigali where the patients would rest and be able to commute to hospital during the treatment.
“This is just the beginning of the many efforts towards our cancer project. The fight against cancer is huge and we are taking it in bits. This is the start but there is yet more to come,” said Saudah Nalule, the outgoing president of the club.
Also Read:Nigeria’s first ultra-modern agro-commodity market nears completion
Accommodation facility
According to the club, 90% of the patients come from outside Kigali, and since they were not so sick to be admitted, they had to report to the hospital from their respective homes from Monday to Friday.
“It is often that you find yourself discussing with a patient not about the modalities of the treatment; but the details surrounding it, the main one being accommodation,” Saudah Nalule.
RMH introduced radiotherapy treatment last year, and since then, over 70 patients have been treated. Dr Pacifique Mugenzi an oncologist from RMH said that the shortest radiotherapy treatment is about a week and the longest is about eight weeks, and a break in the process would compromise the outcomes of the procedure, a fact that calls for a smoother process of reporting to the hospital is necessary that the patients would not miss their treatment.
The new facility will be able to accommodate about 30 to 50 patients at any given time. It is estimated to cost US $16000 and is set to be completed in three months. Radiotherapy or radiation therapy, is therapy using ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells. The survival rate of patients diagnosed with cancers is appallingly low in the developing world, including Rwanda. Statistics show that in 2018, 10,704 new cases of cancer and 7,662 cancer related deaths were registered in Rwanda and this number is expected to reach 24.6 million by 2030.
