More women embrace breast reconstruction surgery in Kenya, statistics show

More Kenyan women are resulting to breast reconstruction surgery after having the mammary organs removed due to cancer.

At Kenyatta University Teaching Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH), so far 50 patients have undergone the procedure since it started in 2021, according to Dr. John-Paul Ogalo, a surgeon at the facility.

He said that the costs are almost fully covered by the Social Health Authority (SHA) insurance scheme and ranges between Sh112,000 and 168,000 per patient.

Ogalo spoke during the second symposium on breast reconstruction and aesthetics at KUTRRH which was attended by specialists from across the globe.

It drew doctors from Africa, Europe and America who converged for the second year to share experiences and knowledge on breast cancer treatment and resultant reconstructive surgeries.

Ogalo revealed that only 5 to 10 per cent of women who undergo mastectomy go for breast reconstructive operations, hence the need increase awareness.

“Our statistics show that only between 5 to 10 percent of women who have their breasts removed because of cancer end up getting a reconstruction. Our challenge now is to increase those numbers so that majority of them can get this service,” Ogalo observed.

On his part, Dr. Anthony Kamau, the acting KU Referral Hospital Director clinical services said initially the reconstructive operations were not covered by SHA and appealed to more women to come forth for the procedure.

“After a woman goes through mastectomy, reconstructive surgery helps to restore her self-esteem, but unfortunately not many of our women are aware that the procedure is available locally and also affordable,” he said.

Pointing out that breast reconstruction is gaining traction in the country, Kamau said a lot more needs to be done to create awareness.

Further, Dr. Nancy Van Lacker from Canada said the best assurance for cancer survival globally is early diagnosis and treatment, maintaining that there is no guarantee that developed countries have a higher percentage.

She divulged that incidences of breast cancer worldwide are going up while diagnosis is declining which poses a challenge to treatment.

The Canadian medic also said Kenya has some of the best health professionals in the world and the only problem in combating chronic illnesses is shortage of equipment.

Dr. Kwame Darko, a plastic surgeon from Ghana said the survival rate of breast cancer across continents is the same, but early diagnosis is higher in Western countries leading to better chances of treatment and cure there.

Similarly, Dr. Joan Fomtdevila of Barcelona, Spain also emphasized the need for early screening for cancer as a way of mitigating cancer cases.