By Bob Collymore, (CEO Safaricom)
Nine months ago, while smack in the middle of preparing for our half-year results announcement, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a rare yet curable form of blood cancer.
Nobody walks into a doctor’s office expecting to receive such a diagnosis. You always hope to be told that it’s something much smaller: an ulcer or bacterial infection perhaps – nothing that carries the weight of a cancer diagnosis.
So what do you do when left alone with your thoughts, in isolation, for weeks at a time while receiving treatment? I’ll tell you what you do: you reflect on the life you’ve lived, and whether you’ve done what you’re supposed to do.
It’s during such times, when I was alone with my thoughts, that I was able to put a lot of things into perspective. We take for granted many things, until the reality of your mortality jolts you, and you begin to appreciate the value of things like family, friends, and health.
I’m very fortunate to have all three, the last of which I appreciate even more today because I owe it to something to which billions of people around the world do not have access: quality healthcare and the ability to fund it.
In the Kenyan context, saving for health emergencies is simply not a priority, as the average family struggles to balance the weight of daily sustenance and the cost of medical care.
Yet even as we seek to achieve universal healthcare, whose intentions are noble because good health is a precondition for economic prosperity, we must respect that healthcare will never be free. Somebody has to pay for everything within the healthcare ecosystem, even “free” government healthcare. And it’s expensive.
Diagnosis and treatment for cancer, for example, Kenya’s third leading cause of death, can run into millions of shillings depending on the stage and treatment required. No wonder a cancer diagnosis in Kenya is sometimes akin to a death sentence, with a third of the 40,000 reported cases each year ending in the loss of life.
While those in formal employment often have the benefit of receiving the employer-funded medical cover, the 82 percent of Kenyans in informal employment are at great risk of losing everything the moment they become seriously ill. This doesn’t just affect them and their families, it affects businesses too.