KABUL (SW) – A number of women with breast cancer say that due to lack of access to medical services and getting the necessary medicines, they have no other choice than to travel to neighboring countries.
These women add that they have no hope that their disease will be treated in Afghan hospitals, and according to them, the options of treatment are not available in the country.
Parwin and Rona, two women with breast cancer, say that because their disease was not diagnosed in the country’s hospitals, they had to travel to India and Pakistan for treatment.
Parwin said: “At first, I didn’t know that I had this disease. After repeated examinations, the doctors in Afghanistan said that I have a liver problem, but after I went to India, the doctors diagnosed me with breast cancer, and despite long-term treatments, the disease spread from my chest to my liver and back.”
Rona, also explained her situation: “At first, I thought there was pimple in my armpit, but over time it got bigger and I felt that day by day, this was taking all my energy. I visited doctor and have been under treatment for a year. I have no hope of treatment in Afghanistan that’s why I go to Pakistan every time to get chemotherapy.”
On the other hand, a number of breast cancer patients say that they cannot afford their treatment due to economic poverty and the high cost of treating this disease.
30-year-old Bibi Shirin, who has four children, said: “At first, I felt a lump in my breast area, I didn’t think it was serious; But when I went to hospital, the doctors said that ‘your disease is incurable; because the cancer has spread from the breast to all parts of your body’, and I can’t afford to treat it; I don’t think I’ll recover.”
50-year-old Haram Gul, who is a mother of seven children and is suffering from breast cancer, complain of economic poverty and say that she has no hope of curing her disease. She added: “I have been sick for a long time. The doctor said that ‘your disease has progressed and you need to be operated on’, and the doctors themselves said that I should go to Pakistan for treatment. But I can’t afford to go to Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, a number of women who are in the first stages of the breast cancer disease and go to neighboring countries for treatment, say that they hope their treatment will deliver results and they recover.
“The doctors are giving me radiation therapy and I am in the first stage of the disease and I pray that I will get better,” said 33-year-old Karima who has been suffering from breast cancer for two years.
However, doctors consider family history of breast cancer (genetics), infertility, early puberty, being overweight, changes in hormones, exposure to various rays and excessive consumption of animal fats to be the causes of this disease.
Samira Shahir Rahimi, an obstetrician-gynecologist, says in this regard: “There is a possibility of breast cancer occurring at all ages, but women who are 45 to 50 years old, overweight and their hormone levels are abnormal, they are exposed to different rays, and mothers who do not breastfeed their children for various reasons are more susceptible to breast cancer.”
However, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health of the de-facto government, says that the number of women with breast cancer has been increasing in the past two years, but the treatment is not available in Afghanistan. He adds that last year, 6,240 patients with breast cancer were registered in the country.
Amarkhil emphasized: “Last year, 6,240 patients with breast cancer were registered, which constitutes 26% of the total number of cancer patients in the country, and unfortunately, this number is increasing in the coming year. There are needs for comprehensive centers so patients do not go abroad for treatment.”
Women with breast cancer complain about lack of access to medical services, while according to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, 2.3 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and more than 600,000 of them die as a result of this disease worldwide.
