13 sitting Members of Parliament including nine Members of National Assembly and four Senators are among thousands of Kenyans seeking cancer treatment in Indian hospitals.
Juja MP Francis Munyua Waititu alias Wakapee, who was successfully treated for brain cancer in India said he was surprised to meet hundreds of Kenyans in the Asian country, some of whom are his colleagues in Parliament.
He said most of the legislators are admitted at Apollo Hospital outlets in New Delhi and other cities in India, but did not reveal their identities.
Waititu jetted back to the country on Friday after seven weeks stay in India, where he was being treated for brain cancer.
“So many people are suffering in silence from cancer. Nobody wants to talk about it because of the stigma behind it. In India, I met hundreds of cancer patients from Kenya alone. Among them were nine of my fellow MPs and four Senators. The cancer scourge is enormous and we can no longer afford to bury our heads in the sand. We must get out and talk about it,” he said.
Data from the Ministry of Health shows that about 10,000 Kenyans travel abroad per year in search of of cancer treatment, spending more than Sh10 billion in the process.
Waititu revealed the suffering some of Kenyan patients go through while seeking treatment in India, including sleeping in the streets.
“Those people you have been helping in fundraising to go for further treatment in India cannot find anywhere to lay down their heads . . . they are sleeping in trenches because they cannot afford renting the expensive houses in India,” said Waititu.
“I personally spent Sh1.8 million on housing alone for the period I was there. How many Kenyans can afford that?” He said.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says that more than 40,000 Kenyans are diagnosed with cancer annually, while the disease claims about 15,000 lives per year.
“If they could have come out openly like myself, a solution would have been realised so far,” MP Waitutu said.
It’s time to start spending…
It’s time to start spending that kind of money supporting local research and local medicine and local hospitals. As long as there is profit motive behind the health industry, there will be sickness in the country. When we create a pill we must find a buyer. Let the country build local solutions to all our problems. As long as we are the consumers of foreign medicine, a way will be found to create the need. It’s time. Otherwise you will all be slaves. Earn all your wealth and write your will to foreign hospitals and foreign hotels for accommodation. Start trusting your own people and their capabilities. When we are called shit hole countries, that is exactly what is meant. We are slaves. We have no control over our affairs, not even our health. You leaders must stop increasing your salaries, buying expensive vehicles, living in mansions when people cannot afford basics. Take control of what is brought to the country to feed your people. Use your wealth to feed and educate your people. Wake up. Leaders start putting your thinking cap. Shit hole countries was not just a word. Let us look deeper into ourselves and find out who we are and what kind of relationship we have with foreign countries and where we spend our money and earnings. Is the country spending it’s wealth where it needs to spend it or where it’s forced to spend it by events. It’s time for soul searching.
very true
very true
I just wonder what you are…
I just wonder what you are doing in a foreign land instead of jetting home to join others walking around searching for jobs’.Just go there and lead others solve the problem by first paying huge salaries to those useless thugs you call leaders who have no idea of problems facing Kenyans.
@Anonymous kudos for that!…
@Anonymous kudos for that! We Kenyans are suffering from poverty of the mind. That we respect those with money, admire when they live in mansions and eat Western food which by the way is riddled with carcinogens. Haven’t heard people in the villages eating their own grown foods suffering from cancer as much as those eating Western garbage (pizza, hamburgers,and fried chicken etc). The government is opening doors to the American restaurants without questioning where they get their supplies from. If only they knew what their minced meat for example is composed of!! Some have said here in this forum ” let capitalism take its course”. Capitalism without control can claim lives. You go to KNH, CT scans, MRI machines to help with diagnosis are not in working order and please lets not even mention PET scan cos the last time I heard, there wasn’t any. For how long are we going to worship money and not acknowledge our fellow human being? When do we start loving ourselves, embrace our foods, improving our hospitals and stop the colonial or slave mentality of worshipping other cultures. The day we start becoming who we are, change the way we think is the day we shall break the chains of poverty of the mind.
@Anonymous kudos for that!…
@Anonymous kudos for that! We Kenyans are suffering from poverty of the mind. That we respect those with money, admire when they live in mansions and eat Western food which by the way is riddled with carcinogens. Haven’t heard people in the villages eating their own grown foods suffering from cancer as much as those eating Western garbage (pizza, hamburgers,and fried chicken etc). The government is opening doors to the American restaurants without questioning where they get their supplies from. If only they knew what their minced meat for example is composed of!! Some have said here in this forum ” let capitalism take its course”. Capitalism without control can claim lives. You go to KNH, CT scans, MRI machines to help with diagnosis are not in working order and please lets not even mention PET scan cos the last time I heard, there wasn’t any. For how long are we going to worship money and not acknowledge our fellow human being? When do we start loving ourselves, embrace our foods, improving our hospitals and stop the colonial or slave mentality of worshipping other cultures. The day we start becoming who we are, change the way we think is the day we shall break the chains of poverty of the mind.
First of All: Corruption…
First of All: Corruption CORRUPTS our Spirits, Souls, and then Body (Health). Second: SOME of these Mps could be REAPING the “Bitter Fruits” of their CORRUPT Labor. And do I have to Mention Chris Kirubi?
Just a thought. Importing…
Just a thought. Importing foreign doctors is more economical than exporting Kenyas moneys abroad.
What is the government doing…
What is the government doing to those cancer patient who cant afford even chemotherapy and just seated home waiting a slow painful death. Government should seat down and come up with a solution to help the poor. Lucky ones make it to India and all over the world but common man can’t even afford a painkiller? What a mess and too pathetic. God have mercy on your people.
Shithole coutries always…
Shithole coutries always have their priorities upside down. They give priority to stadiums over hospitals. When rains fail, they die from hunger. When it rains, it gets even worse. Last sunday while attending sunday service i was surprised to hear the pastor asking Got to stop the current rains, saying that they are no longer a blessing. No wonder these mps are paid better than the doctors who are supposed to treat their cancer and other lifestile afflictions as a result of eating 1kg of meat every day
That is a question for 7…
That is a question for 7 million rich Kenyans who voted YES to create 5000 millionaires through the useless,expensive katiba.
@njai and now they want…
@njai and now they want washing machines , because hand washing and conserving energy and water is not US-like ..sigh…. Instead of thinking of harvesting that water that is running down the streets to be used in the dry season when those machines will be lying idle and rusting because of lack of water………..
Kenya is for rich people…
Kenya is for rich people. The poor vote for rich to parliament but when they get their heads in, forgets about the villagers who voted for them. Help the villagers especially the needy ones whose voice is never heard.
The poor did not vote for…
The poor did not vote for the rich.
These are are computer generated leaders.
It is always good to know…
It is always good to know God is always watching.