Cancer care comes to Western Kenya

The Eldoret Comprehensive Cancer Centre first opened its doors for oncology consultations, chemotherapy services and 24-hour in-hospital care in August 2016, and began offering comprehensive radiotherapy, a first for Western Kenya, at the beginning of April 2017. Full services have been available since the beginning of June 2017.

The facility will serve a broader population of 20m people across region, as well as Uganda and parts of Rwanda; many of whom previously would have had to fly or travel over five hours by road to Nairobi for treatment.

The centre is equipped with a dual photon energy linear accelerator from Varian Medical Systems. It has a 120-leaf multileaf collimator and a high resolution electronic portal imager, and is capable of treating patients with a wide range of electrons, 3D conformal external beam radiation and with Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The department also offers high-dose rate brachytherapy with a new and modern afterloader.

Equra Health Kenya, which owns and operates the centre, has invested heavily in the infrastructure to deliver a stable power supply to the facility. “We have implemented additional surge protection and powerful UPS systems to ensure reliable power and stable levels of service,” says Mr. Erhardt Korf, CEO of the company.

The site was chosen due to its extensive regional population and the fact that the town already has a strong medical referral infrastructure and oncology experts. “Our company philosophy has always been to take comprehensive oncology services closer to where people live and work. In South Africa too, we invest in centres outside of the major metros to deliver advanced cancer treatment to those who cannot easily travel to the major cities,” he says.