The Sunday News
EIGHT months ago, cervical cancer claimed the life of her sister. Now, 21-year-old Sizalobuhle Ncube, a hotel waitress, is battling breast cancer, bed-ridden at her late sister’s home in the Mathetshaneni rural areas of Nkayi, Matabeleland North province.
In Victoria Falls, 51-year-old Mildred Mhlanga is battling the same disease, which has resulted in a severe heart problem after undergoing successful chemotherapy as her cancer cells had advanced, a state commonly referred to as stage four.
“I hardly sleep and at night as the pain sharpens, and l often cry with very little help as my family does not know how to assist me,” Ncube said.
Ncube has not been able to go to Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo, where she was referred to by Nkayi nurses to be examined by a specialist.
“I have no money, and I started feeling some lumps and severe pains on my left breast when my sister died, but at the hospital, they told me that for me to get treated, I will need about US$ 500 for the first pills, consultation, and examination before the chemotherapy process on top of transport money to Bulawayo. I don’t have it, and that’s why l am in this anguish. I don’t have money for treatment,” said Ncube.
Breast cancer has become Zimbabwe’s new health headache, and it is not alone, having teamed up with cervical cancer. For any cancer patient like Mhlanga and Ncube what decides the treatment depends on the stage of cancer.
Even though she successfully finished her three-year-long chemotherapy in February this year, Mhlanga faced yet another severe disease, a side effect of the treatment process.
“I was supposed to go for my right breast removal, but I will not be able to because I now have a heart problem. When l visited the doctors in Bulawayo, they told me that those are side effects of chemotherapy, so I’m now on twin medications that l have to purchase at US$30 each per month.”
The two unemployed women have the headache of medical bills and have children to look after, which further complicates their situations.
In 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that annual cancer deaths globally reached 8.2 million, adding that the numbers were expected to triple by 2030.
With breast and cervical cancers as the country’s twin evils haunting hundreds of women like Mhlanga and Ncube, the Health and Child Care Ministry says approximately 1 500 women succumb to cervical cancer each year. The Zimbabwe’s Cancer Association says breast cancer alone claims more than 1000 women every year.
According to Zimbabwe’s Cancer Registry, from 6 548 registered cancer cases in 2013, figures had shot up to 9 220 in 2018.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who doubles up as Health and Childcare Minister, is on record as saying plans were underway to create the Universal Health Cover that will exist side by side with medical aid societies, to cushion chronically ill patients like Mhlanga and Ncube. – The Citizen Bulletin
