UCI registers big turnout at cancer screening camp

The institute plans to screen between 500 and 1,000 people in the two-day cancer screening camp that ends today.

The Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) on November 11 reported a big turnout at the free cancer screening camp held at their headquarters in Mulago, Kampala.

 Ms Christine Namulindwa, the UCI spokesperson, said by 2pm, at least 250 people had made it to the institute to be screened for different types of cancers.

“Today [Monday] we received quite a big number of people who have come to receive this free cancer screening. We have received people of all denominations, even children,” she said.

“In our [routine] free screening clinics, we have 20-40 people per day but today we have received 250 people and the teams have been on ground to ensure everyone receives what they have come for,” she added.

Ms Namulindwa also said they plan to screen between 500 and 1,000 people in the two-day cancer screening camp that ends today.

According to UCI, about 70 percent of patients come late for cancer diagnosis and treatment because of limited access to screening and low cancer awareness.

Many people still perceive positive cancer tests as a death sentence and this is a critical determinant of healthcare–seeking behaviours, according to researchers.

Challenges

This delayed diagnosis and treatment results in a low survival rate of 30 percent or less for adult patients and around 50 percent for children. UCI gets around 7,000 new cancer cases per year but this is too low when compared to the estimated 34,000 people who develop cancer in Uganda per day.

Ms Namulindwa also explained that they have built the capacity of health facilities in other regions to do cancer screening.

“We do not only screen here. Last month, we were moving around the country doing screening but we have also empowered regional referral hospitals, health centres IVs and IIIs to ensure they screen people,” she said.

“We have trained health workers to ensure they screen people for cancer who get to that place. After the screening, then the people can be referred to Uganda Cancer Institute,” she added.

Many health facilities, especially those up-country, may not have the equipment and expertise to perform certain confirmatory tests, so samples are sometimes sent for testing in other accredited laboratories, largely located in Kampala. The cost related to sample collection and performing the confirmatory tests outside UCI can be very expensive for some patients –some are asked to pay Shs700,000 or Shs2.5 million. Mr Peter Wamibu, a resident of Kampala, was one of the people who came for free cancer screening at UCI yesterday. “I am here to do prostate cancer screening. I was advised by a doctor that whenever you clock 40 years, you need to do it and I have just clocked 40,” he said.

Another person, Mr Khalid Kintu, said: “These days we are exposed to several risks, both in what we eat and how we live. So, I decided to come and check for prostate cancer.”