Tokelo Khausela / Seithati Motṧoeneng
AT LEAST M250 000 is being spent by the government on every cancer patient getting treatment either in South Africa or India.
According to the Clinical Radiation Oncologist at the Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH), Kabelo Mputsoe, this huge cost is because of the lack of oncologists (specialist cancer doctors) and cancer treatment facilities in the country.
Ms Maputsoe spoke at a graduation ceremony of 45 doctors, nurses and pharmacists, who had undergone a week of cancer-care training, at QMMH on Saturday.
She said, much to the detriment of cancer patients, Lesotho only had the Senkatana Centre of Excellence, which only treated cancer in its early stages.
Cancer patients were thus sent to South Africa or India for full treatment. The government, however, remained determined to do whatever it could to assist cancer patients until it completed the construction of its own oncology facility in the country.
And in a bid to help alleviate the oncology crisis in the country, 45 medical professionals undertook a week-long cancer-care course at QMMH this month which was facilitated by Partners in Health (PIH). The training was part of Lesotho’s attempts to equip health professionals with skills on the basics and fundamentals of cancer care as well as capacitating the Senkatana Centre of Excellence.
Ms Maputsoe said current prevention and early detection measures for cancer were inadequate.
“Lesotho, with a population of approximately two million people, is faced with a burden of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Among them is cancer whose cases are increasing every year while the country remains without a cancer treatment centre,” Ms Mputsoe said.
“Recent statistics have indicated that in 2022, an individual with cancer spent around M2 500 lodging per night during the radiation process which can take up to 49 days while the treatment itself amounted to M100 000.”
According to the Deputy Executive Director of (PIH), Retṧepile Tlali, they had noted a gap in oncology nursing in the country and therefore offered assistance to train QMMH staff as the lead referral hospital in the country.
“When we noted the deficiency, we started capacitating QMMH with equipment such as laboratory equipment to allow them to do some of the tests they do for the management of the disease and follow ups they need to do, thus avoiding the need to send minor tests to South Africa where they would pay huge amounts whereas they can be treated locally for free,” Ms Tlali said.
“We also realised that we were overwhelmed with the little we were offering due to the increasing number of cancer patients. So we then asked the Ministry of Health to capacitate us with more health professionals who are graduating today. Lesotho has only one oncologist and she cannot be teaching the others on her own.”
One of the beneficiaries of the training programme, Mosioua Lesuhlo, a pharmacist, said he learnt a lot from the training.
“I was attached to Senkatana and there were a lot of technicalities which I was not familiar with as a pharmacist who had not studied oncology. Some of the things I was supposed to work with were new to me and that could therefore be dangerous as we deal with hazardous chemicals. I can say this training played a huge role in my career development as I will also be helping heal the nation,” Mr Lesuhlo said.
Mr Lesuhlo emphasized the need for more medical professionals to be capacitated in oncology.
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