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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters An injection of hope
By Amira El-NoshokatyPatients from across the country come to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). They are desperately in need of treatment, but they are also a burden the Institute's services cannot accommodate, despite recent efforts to increase facilities and improve support structures. The government has therefore designated two storeys in the NCI building for children suffering from cancer. The new clinic is free, and there are up to 60 children on each floor -- not much, when one thinks of how many more children still need treatment.
A new paediatric outpatient clinic was created last year at the NCI. The large waiting room, its walls painted in cheerful pink and blue, is decorated with posters of cartoon characters. The clinic has been funded by private donations from the business community.
"The clinic consists of five rooms served by two doctors each. This means that 10 children can be examined at once, thus saving time," explains the director of finance of the AFNCI (Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute, a non-governmental organisation set up in 1998).
There is, in addition, a pharmacy where patients receive free medication, as well as a laboratory offering the highly sterilised environment necessary for the medication used in chemotherapy. The lab makes it possible to avoid wasting costly medication, since doctors can give each child exactly the dose he or she needs, then distribute the rest to other patients, instead of opening one vial (sometimes containing several doses) per patient.
In the clinic's small operating room, samples of bone marrow are taken. Once a very painful procedure, this operation is now carried out under anaesthetic.
Mina Youssef, 13, has been under treatment for the past two years. Sabah Mohamed, 11, has been coming to the NCI for the past five years. Marwa, who is only six, was diagnosed with cancer when she was four. These children, and many others, have to put up with far more suffering than many would care to imagine. But in an attempt to make their lives easier, the clinic has set up a recreational area on each floor, where they can read or play with toys. Volunteers spend three hours a day with the children. The AFNCI also helps out, distributing donations of clothes, books or games among the patients.
As for their parents, another NGO has taken up the challenge of helping them during a stay in Cairo that few can afford. Dar Al-Orman was set up in January 1996 by the Egyptian Organisation for Science and Culture, to host children who come from the provinces for treatment, as well as one family member. The building is not far from the NCI, and can accommodate 100 people in large dormitories. The patients and their parents also receive free meals in the common dining room, while two small buses take them to and from the NCI. There is a doctor on call in case of emergency .
Dar Al-Orman also offers what it can by way of entertainment. "I have been to the circus, the park and the movies," said Medhat Abdel-Maqsoud, a six-year-old patient from Kafr Al-Sheikh in the Delta.
Friends of Children with Cancer (FCC), another NGO, was established six years ago to support cancer treatment centres nationwide by improving medical facilities and providing care to children, says Mona Zulficar, a member and the organisation's legal advisor.
In 1996, FCC and the University of Assiut cooperated to create a section for children with cancer. Since Assiut had no cancer institute in the first place, the FCC could not approach an established body for funds, as it had with the NCI in Cairo.
"They said there was no cancer institute in all Upper Egypt, though they had a plan to establish one," explains Zulficar. "There was an old building that was used as a hospital in the '60s, and we thought it might be more efficient and quicker to refurbish and convert it rather than building an institute from the ground up." The building is now the Assiut University Upper Egypt Cancer Institute (UECI).
Dr Atef Abdel-Aziz, director of the UECI, recounts that donations allowed Assiut University to renovate the building, a task completed in 1998. A special section was designated for children with cancer -- estimated at 5,000 in Upper Egypt in 1997. The section includes 56 beds, two operating rooms, an intensive care area accommodating 16 bed, laboratories and scanning facilities.
"When we started out, the FCC granted us a fund of a million and a half pounds, courtesy of General Motors Egypt," says Abdel-Aziz. This was a major contribution, allowing the institute to upgrade its facilities just before opening a few months ago.
Due to the duration of cancer treatment, in addition to the high prices of the medication required (reaching LE700 per daily dose for each child), Abdel-Aziz explains that more funds are needed if cancer patients in the underprivileged Sa'id are to be given treatment for free.
Mohamed Raafat Mahmoud, dean of Assiut University, notes that the government also provided the UECI with LE10 million worth of equipment, as well as a grant of LE4 million in 1998. Mahmoud explains that the majority of children suffering from cancer are afflicted with leukaemia. The success rate of treatment is therefore quite high when the illness is detected early on, and the appropriate medication is given. "Recently," exclaims Mahmoud, "we celebrated with 25 children who have gone into complete remission."
