Delayed help is help denied

So many times we talk of justice delayed being justice denied, but every so often help delayed turns out to be help denied.

A recent case in point is that of the departed musician Geoffrey Zigoma who succumbed to skin cancer in India last week.

I don’t have much information regarding the stage at which his cancer was diagnosed, but what I know is that when the cancer had just been discovered in his body a few years ago, he went about appealing for financial assistance to enable him access medical help abroad.

That help came, albeit at a slow pace, from his fellow musicians who organised a fundraising show to raise funds for their colleague’s treatment. Meanwhile, a few politicians, companies and individuals of good will also pumped in some money to help Zigoma travel to Tanzania for a cancer operation that he could not access locally.

His was a well publicised case of desperation for treatment as every passing day meant that the cancer was spreading through his body and, therefore, worsening.

But despite the many appeals that the late Zigoma made to both government and the private sector, it took long for government to avail itself with the required assistance.

Better late than never, it is said, and  government ought to be applauded for having made the effort to fund Zigoma’ final trips to India where Zigoma eventually  lost the battle to cancer, but one cannot avoid wondering whether the delayed assistance was not a case of denied assistance.

Zigoma’s case brings to memory the events that led to the death of another celebrated musician Stonald Lungu who died of cancer years back.

Like Zigoma, Lungu had to run up and down in search of funds to access treatment before government came to his aid and funded his trip to the Tanzanian hospital.

But as expected, the help came in too late.

Lungu succumbed to the disease at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital a day after he had returned from Tanzania where he underwent treatment.

Government can conveniently choose to blame the delays on bureaucracy and all, but if it  continues with this manner of indifference to cancer patients, the country will continue losing lives that would have been saved had it released help in good time.

By the time the late funding is released, it is almost as good as mocking the patient, whose life can hardly be saved as the cancer is usually at an advanced stage where it cannot be treated.

Zigoma and Lungu were celebrated figures, and one wonders the hell that ordinary Malawians, who find themselves in similar situations, are going through at the hands of a government if they need similar help. How many die on the waiting list with no one to fight for their cause?

When it comes to cancer treatment, the best government can do is help when the disease can be treated, otherwise this practice of scoring cheap points on the back of delayed assistance does not help anyone.