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Lethokuhle Moyo Chronicle Reporter
CANCER patients have pleaded with the government to help them access cheaper treatment saying their medical costs can be as high as $12,000 which most of them cannot afford.
A Chronicle news crew, together with officials from Island Hospice on Friday visited a number of cancer patients in the city who expressed their concerns. Island Hospice is an organisation funded by Bulawayo community and is dealing with 160 patients who are living with cancer in the city with the help of four nurses who visit patients in their homes.

Most patients expressed concern that more focus was being given to HIV/Aids and a lot of money has been used on drugs to treat HIV whereas cancer was more deadly than the virus but is being ignored.

Kalitha Phonela whose lower limbs were affected by cancer appealed to the government to assist them with ways to treat the disease. She said Island Hospice had helped her a lot because it has been providing her with food, clothes, painkillers and counselling.

Assah Ndlovu, 78, has also been living with cancer for five years. She no longer does anything for herself. She appealed for help with pampers, gloves as well as detergents.

Another woman, Atalia Sibanda, 62, said she has been living with cervical cancer for 10 months. She was also seeking assistance to help her pay for investigations as well as treatment.

Island Hospice administrator, Nomvelo Zaranyika said cancer treatment can cost up to $12,000, an amount that some patients cannot afford due to lack of resources.

“As an organisation, we cannot afford to pay for our cancer patients because the price is just too high. People usually pay for themselves and those who cannot we only manage to supply them with painkillers or a drug called morphine,” she said.

“More people are becoming aware of our organisation and they are coming in large numbers. Some of them who cannot afford cancer treatment stay alone at their homes and are being looked after by our nurses.”

Zaranyika said it is difficult to give a specific number of people who go for radiotherapy but most of their patients are on chemotherapy.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent in Bulawayo because it is hereditary. Other people suffer from colon cancer, cervical cancer as well as prostate cancer among others. Children are mostly affected by renal cancer which is cancer of the kidneys.