A recent medical research undertaken by a group of Sana'a University medical graduates shows that Yemeni cancer patients suffer from desperate financial situations due to poverty and the high cost of treatment, especially given that cancer management is the most expensive amongst all the other diseases worldwide.

The research which was conducted on cancer patients who are on medication in Sana'a hospitals reveals that 98.70 percent of the patients are being treated in public hospitals. Nevertheless, 73.80 percent of them are in the National Oncology Center, the only oncology center in Yemen. In addition, only 21 percent of cancer patients are from Sana'a whereas the rest are from other governorates of the country; thus, creating pressure on the center. Since the majority of the patients come from other governorates, the cost of treatment increases.

According to the study, the monthly income of cancer patients can't cover the monthly expenditures that they have to spend on medication and the accompanying needs such as accommodation, some medical checks-up and medicine. Thirty two percent of the patients confirmed that their income is less than YR 20,000 per month. Patients with less than YR 10,000 represent 19 percent whereas only 4 percent whose income is more than YR 60,000 per month.

However, the average amount of money that cancer patients have to spend in Yemen is YR 70,000 per month. Concerning the total cost of treatment from the time of diagnosing the disease until the time of conducting the research, 27 percent of the patients confirm that they have spent over YR one million on treatment followed by 19 percent whose expenditures on treatment are between YR 300,000 and 500,000.

Thirty percent of patients said that the total cost of treatment reaches less than YR 300.000. Due to lack of proper health services in Yemen, 14 percent of the investigated patients had to travel abroad for treatment. The average cost of both traveling and treatment mounted up to over YR one million, according to the study.

Prompted by the heavy economic burden of treatment, cancer patients were obliged to seek money from different sources so that it can help them cover the expenditures they need  to continue treatment. In this respect, the research shows that over 71 percent of the patients borrowed money from others. Fifty six percent managed to provide the cost from their savings and 45 percent had to sell their possessions in order to bear the cost of medication. Moreover, 15 percent stressed that they had to pawn their properties so as to provide money. Only 18 percent of the sample patients received support from individual benefactors and 6.55 percent were supported by workplaces and the National Association for Combating Cancer.

Accordingly, the study confirms that such continuous and escalating costs imposed on patients together with lack of support and the required level of health services hinder the treatment process and increase the potential of negative treatment particularly since cancer should be managed under strict and timely procedures.

Dr. Nadeem Mohammed Saeed, general manager of the National Oncology Center, explained that the center offers free medications to all patients. However, there are still some medical checks up that are not conducted in the center due to lack of medical equipment such as Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) and CT-Scan.

"Such equipment will help patients make the checks up for free if provided in the center", he said, maintaining that the center suffers from shortage of finance and the working staff are not enough as a result of the increasing number of patients which mounted up to 10,600 cases in the center. He further noted that such big numbers of patients have a negative impact on the quality of the services offered in the center.

"Soon after the establishment of the center in September 2004,  we received about two hundred patients per month and the budget covered the needs of the center at that time", he said. He added "Now the center receives around four hundred new patients per month and the center's annual finance is only YR 770 million. So, the center is in need of more finance in order to offer the proper medical care. We also need more staff so as to help the current personnel working in the center."

 The manager also explained that one of the key solutions to cancer patients' financial problems is through the establishment of oncology centers in the populated  governorates such as Ibb , Aden , Taiz and Hadhramout in order to reduce the patients' cost of treatment on the one hand and also decrease the pressure on the  National Oncology Center, on the other.

According to the manager, the role of the   non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the health field is very limited since it is mostly restricted to training doctors and nurses, noting that their role can be much more effective through providing financial support as well as building more oncology centers so that such centers will help reduce the pressure in the center which suffers from shortage of budget and continuous increase of patients.