Beth Mugo in the US for treatment

By Chris Wamalwa in USA

Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo, who is currently in the US on scheduled appointment with her doctors is well and in good spirits, the Kenyan ambassador to the US has disclosed.

Speaking to The Standard on phone, Mr Elkanah Odembo said he had visited Mrs Mugo last Friday in her apartment in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and found her looking well and in remarkably good spirits in the company of her husband and daughter.

" She was looking fantastic! She was busy working because in spite of her being here, she has continued to work. She is here with her personal assistant and together they have created an office in one of the rooms where she is staying," he said.

Public Health Minister Beth Mugo at her apartment in the US where she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. [Photo: Chris Wamalwa]

The ambassador said he found her when she had just completed the first phase of preventative treatment for breast cancer.

The minister's absence in Kenya at the time when the country was mourning two prominent Kenyans, former ministers Njenga Karume and John Michuki who died within the same week had caused anxiety and sparked speculation both at home and the US that she may not be well.

Rumour mongering loving Kenyan social media, especially Facebook was abuzz on Wednesday with questions around the health of the minister who recently went public with news that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her absence in the country has become even more conspicuous because the ministry she heads is currently embroiled in an endless labor dispute with the government prompting workers to threaten to go on strike.

Beth Mugo is the latest public figure to be diagnosed with cancer turning attention on the disease that has become one of the leading killers in Kenya. Early this year, Mugo, 73, went public with disclosure that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer joining her Medical Services counterpart Prof Anyang' Nyong'o who has been battling prostate cancer since last year.

The two ministers are currently leading campaigns to raise awareness of cancer in the country and what Kenyans could do to minimize its spread.

Their public disclosure and recent deaths arising from the disease has further raised the profile of cancer in Kenya, which also caused the death of the late Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai among other prominent personalities.

The Minister is expected to continue with several chemotherapy regimens in the US and Kenya to keep herself cancer-free in the years ahead. Mr. Odembo said that during his visit, Mrs. Mugo informed him that she had held discussions with Senior Vice President of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where she is undergoing treatment on a proposal where the University would support a cancer program in Kenya. The Center, based at the University of Pennsylvania is currently one of the leading research centers in the US.

The Minister, who is scheduled to complete her regimen and return to Kenya soon also affirmed that the Cancer Prevention and Control Bill was up for debate in Parliament underscoring the seriousness with which the Government was taking in regards to prevention and control of cancers in the country.