Hope as cancer treatment centre opens

President Lazarus Chakwera yesterday opened a multi-billion kwacha International Blantyre Cancer Centre (IBCC) developed by Thomson and Barbara Mpinganjira Foundation and partners to provide radiation and advanced diagnostic services in the country.

The first phase of the project has cost about 5.2 million euro (K9.625 billion) and is envisaged to be completed this May, but the foundation’s  board of trustees chairperson Thomson Mpinganjira said once the second phase is completed, the cost would jump to K12 billion.

The second phase, comprising the state of the art diagnosis facility and accommodation facilities will cost 1.8 million euro.

For now, the facility is expected to provide radiotherapy, for the first time in the country, and chemotherapy to outpatients at “an affordable price”.

Mpinganjira, a business mogul and philanthropist, said the provision of the services locally would cut costs that patients and the government incur when there is  a referral for treatment abroad.

He said he was moved to invest in the facility after experiencing a “personal tragedy” in form of the death of his wife Barbara to cancer in January 2019 which has taken a long time for him to recover. She was diagnosed with cancer in January 2017.

Mpinganjira recounted that he stayed in a hotel in South Africa for three months as his wife received treatment.

In an interview, he said: “The experience I went through was terrible. That is why I said I am going to set up this [cancer centre], not for making money, but just to make sure that I prevent a lot of Malawians from suffering.

“I may also have cancer, so if I have cancer I do not want to go to South Africa or India. I want to be treated right here.”

In his remarks, Chakwera acknowledged that cancer patients experience challenges in accessing treatment outside the country due to financial constraints, as such, IBCC would be of much help.

He said it costs about K25 million to treat a single cancer patient therefore called for collaborative efforts to be providing the much needed treatment.

Said the President: “I am grateful to the foundation for investing your finances so that together we fight the disease. Without such investments, cancer treatment will remain expensive. To treat one cancer patient, it requires not less than $15 000 which is about K25 million. How many people can manage that amount?

“You have turned your personal tragedy into a public triumph.”

Chakwera added that his administration is currently implementing the National Cancer Control Plan so that every cancer patient should be treated within the country which has also facilitated the construction of the National Cancer Centre in Lilongwe expected to be operational by September this year.

Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, said 17 000 cancer cases are diagnosed every year out of which 12 000 die.

IBCC lead clinical oncologist Dr Wanangwa Clara Namelo said the facility will provide radiotherapy which cures cancer when detected early and can also be used to paliate patients’ pains at any stage.

IBCC is a 50-50 partnership investment between the Thomson and Barbara Mpinganjira Foundation and the Online Medical Concept Company from Luxembourg.