MPs left speechless after Health Minister narrates her ‘battle with cancer’

The lawmakers who were quizzing Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh on the alleged plight of cancer patients, who had to endure long waiting times at Salmaniya Medical Complex, were left speechless when she shared her experiences as a cancer patient. This came after MP Mamdooh Al Saleh accused the Health Ministry of not doing enough to help Bahraini cancer patients, especially when it comes to reducing waiting time. He said that the patients had to wait for longer hours while suffering pain.

Sharing her cancer story, Ms Al Saleh stressed that she knows the suffering of cancer patients. The minister said that her ministry is doing everything possible to reduce the suffering of cancer patients. She said she underwent complete treatment in the Kingdom after being diagnosed with the disease.

“I have suffered from cancer and I have recovered from it, thank God,” the minister said, adding that “cancer is not a death sentence and it is possible to recover from it”.  The ministry has been taking various steps to improve the status of cancer treatment and early detection. Earlier this year,  King Hamad University Hospital, in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and the National Committee for Control of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases, launched the initiative with an aim to curb the rising number colon cancer cases in the Kingdom.

The National Campaign for Early Detection of Colon Cancer, was held under the slogan “Towards Curability”.  “The early detection will help aid the chance or recovery as well as reduce the financial strain of treating the patients. When discovered at a later stage, the chances of recovery reduces while financial strain is much higher,” said Dr Omar Sharif, Consultant for Gastrointestinal Diseases and the Head of Internal Medicine Department at King Hamad University Hospital.