Kilifi opens first chemotherapy centre, ending costly Mombasa journeys for cancer patients

Mgeni Sudi used to pack a bag every few weeks and board a bus to Mombasa. She was fighting Stage Three breast cancer, and the only place she could get chemotherapy was two hours away. The Social Health Authority covered the cost of the drugs themselves, but not the transport, not the room she needed to rent, not the person she had to ask to come with her. By the time she arrived for treatment, exhausted and depleted, the cancer was already taking enough from her.

That routine ended in June when Kilifi County Referral Hospital opened its first dedicated chemotherapy centre. Now Sudi walks across town to the hospital in her own county. No bus fare. No accommodation to arrange. No days lost to travel. "I am a resident of Kilifi," she says. "Here I can just walk in."

Sudi's journey to this point had been marked by the kind of delays that compound illness. She first noticed changes in her breast last year and went to Kilifi County Referral Hospital for evaluation. A referral to Mombasa followed, then came the waiting—doctors away on leave, a mammogram machine that wasn't working. After a biopsy and lab work, the diagnosis came: Stage Three ER-positive breast cancer. The scans offered one piece of good news: the disease had not spread to other organs. Treatment could begin. But chemotherapy brought its own weight—fatigue, appetite loss, hair loss—and the exhausting logistics of traveling for each session.

Sudi's experience was not unique. For years, cancer patients across Kilifi County have faced what doctors call financial toxicity: the economic burden that illness places on families beyond the medical bills themselves. Seeking specialized treatment meant journeys to Mombasa or Nairobi, each one adding transport costs, food, accommodation to an already devastating diagnosis. Many patients delayed care because they could not afford to travel. Others went without.

The new chemotherapy centre is beginning to shift that reality. Dr. Suchira Udugamasooriya, a clinical and radiation oncologist at the hospital, reports that patient numbers have doubled since the unit opened in June. The facility operates five chemotherapy beds and can treat about ten patients a day, though demand is already straining the space. Between July 2025 and June 2026, the hospital diagnosed more than 300 new cancer cases. Cervical cancer accounted for roughly one-fifth of them. Prostate and breast cancers remain among the most common, alongside cases of oesophageal, colon, and liver cancer.

But the centre has also exposed a deeper problem: most patients arrive too late. Fear, stigma, cultural beliefs, and simple lack of awareness cause many to delay seeking help. By the time they walk through the hospital door, the disease is often advanced, narrowing the options for treatment. "If you come early, you can actually get a cure from cancer, including breast cancer," Dr. Udugamasooriya says. The county has responded by expanding awareness campaigns and screening programmes, working with community health promoters, religious leaders, and local officials to counter myths about the disease. Early screening for cervical cancer and HPV vaccination uptake are beginning to increase.

Kilifi is already looking beyond chemotherapy. Construction is underway for a radiotherapy room. Officials are planning a regional oncology centre that would serve patients from neighbouring counties as well. These moves reflect what devolution was meant to accomplish: bringing specialized healthcare to the people who need it, rather than forcing people to travel to where the healthcare is.

For Sudi, the measure of success is simple. She no longer boards a bus to Mombasa every few weeks. She walks to a hospital in her own county. For someone fighting cancer, that means less time on the road, lower costs, and more energy to focus on getting well.