Cancer crusader unchains from tree at KNH, shifts to Kencom bus stop
The man who chained himself to a tree at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in protest at the lack of medical equipment claims he has been kicked out of the facility.
Mr David Ndung’u Wanjohi, 38, said security officers bundled him out of the hospital on Wednesday, cutting short his mission to raise Sh100 million to buy radiotherapy machines for cancer patients.
Mr Wanjohi went to the referral hospital on Tuesday morning in Nairobi and chained himself by the neck to a tree within the hospital.
The father of two, who hails from Ol Kalau, Nyandarua County, said he was not a cancer patient, and neither did his close family require cancer treatment, but his move was prompted by the dire need for cancer equipment in the country.
On Wednesday he said: “I swore to stay at KNH until something was done. But, I have now relocated to Kencom Bus Stage. By kicking me out, they heard my plea, and it unsettled some people.”
However, a reliable source from KNH said Mr Wanjohi met with the hospital administration and amicably agreed to move to Kencom Bus Stage where he would “meet the appropriate audience” instead of the hospital because “patients require encouragement, not a sight of hopelessness”.
In March, the only two radiotherapy machines at KNH broke down, pushing radiotherapy patients to anxiety and despair even as over 1,000 were on the radiotherapy waiting list, with some booked for 2017.
However, according to the hospital, the machines have since been repaired and by early June, a more sophisticated cancer treatment machine — the Linear Accelerator — will complement the other two.
HUNGER STRIKE
At his new destination, Mr Wanjohi set up banners stuck on wooden planks that called on the President, governors and other leaders to buy the cancer machines.
Besides the protest, Mr Wanjohi said he would go on a hunger strike, drinking only water.
On Wednesday, he looked frail but insisted he would hang on till “something happens”.
Due to unreliable cancer treatment and the high cost of such services, more than 10,000 Kenyan cancer patients seek treatment in hospitals overseas annually, spending Sh11.28 billion, according to Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.
It is estimated that 40,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed every year and 27,000 of these end up being fatal due to an inadequate healthcare system.
The government set aside Sh 21billion for cancer equipment in 47 counties but excludes the much needed radiotherapy machines.
However, the government pledged to set up four cancer centers in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Eldoret at a cost of Sh 1billion each by the end of July.
This story first appeared on the Daily Nation