adminHealth Reporter
Cancer advocates have implored Government to set aside funding for cancer response arguing that while costs of treatment were expensive, they were largely funded by patients themselves.
This is not the case with other serious illnesses such as HIV and Aids and of late Covid-19, whose treatment is wholly-funded by Government.
Statistics from the National Cancer Registry show an average of 7 000 cases each year.
Chronicling her challenges of accessing treatment during a donation of cisplatin drugs by Cassava Smartech’s Maisha Health in Harare yesterday, Mrs Judith Buzuzi said she exhausted her medical aid limit before even completing treatment.
Mrs Buzuzi who was diagnosed early last year ended up sourcing elsewhere to meet her medical bills, which were ballooning by each treatment session.
She lamented price distortions of healthcare services, which create huge disparity between what the medical aid companies reimburse service providers, leaving patients with huge shortfalls.
“Most people are failing to access services because of prohibitive costs of medical care. I implore Government to look into these systemic issues which include relevance of medical insurance and pricing distortions. Besides the generosity of the private sector, how can we make sure the generality of Zimbabweans access to services,” said Mrs Buzuzi.
Cancerserve Trust founding member and chair, Dr Anna-Mary Nyakabau, appealed to Government to consider setting aside an allocation on national cancer response to lighten the cost burden on patients.
“Cancer treatment is not supported in Zimbabwe at the moment. In fact, costs are currently met by individual patients,” she said.
Cancerserve Trust has been encouraging people to get screened early for early detection so that it can be managed.
Online Reporter