The County Government of Kiambu has organized a charity marathon to help raise funds for the construction of a cancer care unit at the Thika Level 5 hospital.
The hospital, Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr. Jackline Njoroge said plans for a cancer marathon to boost resource mobilization for construction and equipping the cancer unit were complete. “In fact we are ready for the marathon and are just waiting for the D- day,” she noted.
Dr. Njoroge was addressing members of the Kiambu County Development Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC) who visited the hospital during the unveiling of some of the equipment disbursed by the National Government under the Managed Equipment Service (MES) programme.
Dr. Njoroge said the 21, 10 and 5 Kilometers marathon will be held on 11thAugust, 2019 in Thika sub-county and called on well-wishers, stakeholders and partners to support and participate during the event.
Dr. Njoroge appealed to residents wishing to take part in the marathon to pay Sh. 1000 registration fee that will meet the cost of a T-shirt designed by the Hospital and Pema self-help group.
She thanked the National government for providing the equipment saying they had greatly benefitted the patients drawn from Kiambu and neighboring counties.
“Health workers are now able to attend to the big number of patients who have been attracted to the hospital following the rolling out of the MES programme,” she told Kiambu CDICC members led by Kiambu County Commissioner Mr. Wilson Wanyanga.
In the MES programme, Thika hospital benefitted with equipment usable in the renal unit, operation theatre, radiology, Intensive Care Unit and Central Sterile Service Department (CSSD).
Dr. Njoroge said about a third of patients being attended to at the health facility suffered from cancer related diseases necessitating the establishment of a center to specifically cater for them.
She said Penta Flowers Company through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) had donated Sh. 2 million to facilitate construction of the center.
By Lydia Shiroya and Afwande Pauline
