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HEALTH MINISTER CALLS CANCER PATIENTS FOR SCREENING

The Minister of Health has called on Basotho to go for screening of cancer at Queen Elizabeth II starting from Tuesday (07/04/2019),  saying this fourth batch of patients is due to being send to India for treatment.
This, Mr. Nkaku Kabi revealed during the media briefing on Monday where he said the screening will be conducted by the Apollo Hospital Team of Oncologists saying after the screening patients will leave for India in the next two weeks.
He said the venture follows on the agreement signed between the Apollo Hospital Medical Team and the Ministry of Health to assist Lesotho with the treatment of certain non-communicable diseases (NCD) with specific focus on renal and cancer diseases in India.
He added that the round would engage only patients previously screened and suspected of having cancer and those already on treatment for check-up purposes, and he stressed that the service is only meant for cancer patients and not renal patients since no nephrologists would be around as is normal practice. He thus called on all cancer suspects to come forward to enable smooth operation of the referral service to India if need be.
Mr. Kabi said that for the first and second batches only 47 patients have been treated and are cured, however saying this number is low since there are hundreds of Basotho suffering from cancer.
‘I am contented that the patients we sent to India have been cured but the number is very little because there are hundreds of Basotho with cancer and I wish Basotho would come in large numbers to be screened’, he said.
He disclosed that four Basotho doctors and six nurses have gone through skills transfer processes  so that they will be able to do some treatment in the country.
Lesotho has dialysis service performed at Motebang Hospital for renal patients requiring such service whilst kidney transplants are referred to Apollo Hospital per the agreement.
Since the agreement between Lesotho and India came into effect in July 2018, the first batch of nine patients treated in India comprised four treated for renal and five for cancer and of the total patients, eight are currently reportedly in good health while one who is the 84-year-old woman succumbed to stage four cancer coupled with old age.
The second batch also treated in India in September 2018 comprising one renal and seven cancer patients is also reportedly recovering.
When referred to India, patients are accompanied by either nurse or doctor and total of 47 patients has to date been referred for treatment in India.
Source: LENA 06/05/2019

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