A newly inaugurated public hospital is giving children with cancer fresh hope. Dina Ezzat visited the site of help The ship of hope is what the designer of the Children's Cancer Hospital had in mind when he designed the building that was under construction for years and which was recently inaugurated to admit children with different types of cancer from all parts of the country. The children are being treated under fully subsidised medical service that doctors and nurses working at this new medical centre say is one of the best in Egypt. As it enters its third week of operation, having been inaugurated on 1 July, the hospital is already providing its services for close to 100 in and out patients. Before the first 100 days of operation over 500 children are expected to receive medical care. Government estimates suggest that out of every 1,000 cancer patients 64 are children. Given that on average there are at least 20,000 new suspected or diagnosed cancer patients, then there are about 6,400 children who could annually access the services of this new hospital. In Egypt, out of every 100,000 men there are 67.9 cancer patients. And out of 100,000 women there are 68.3 such patients. Unless they are rich, most parents of children with cancer say they must resort at one point or another to the kind of free and quality healthcare that the Children's Cancer Hospital is supposed to provide. "I believe it was the enormous compassion that all Egyptians share for one another that helped this hospital, which was really a dream, to come true," said Mrs Suzanne Mubarak during an inspection visit she paid to the hospital shortly before it opened. "This hospital is not just about providing quality healthcare for those children, which we are determined to provide anyway, but it is also about providing the children and the families adequately reassuring surroundings," Mrs Mubarak said. The exterior and interior design of the hospital, largely built by money gathered from public donations, is styled to do exactly that -- help children and parents relax. The combination of light steel, glass and concrete offers what the award- winning designer hoped for: a well lit, warm and relaxing set-up. A sense of ease is accentuated with the walls and floors that are made of soft materials free of artificial luxury that comes with marble and parquets. The colours of the floors are that of the rainbow, the shapes of the walls wavy, to distract children, and may be even parents. The selection of art work is an added enhancer to this air of ease. Paintings, donated mainly by foreign embassies and Egyptian art collectors, are of sunflowers, roses and tulips with a few paintings of singing birds and coat hangers with Mickey Mouse and Mini Mouse shapes. Some of the ultra modern equipment are colourfully patterned with animal stickers to make them less intimidating to children. "It was just very nice to get in here," said Walaa Sayed, a 25-year-old economically disadvantaged mother. "I'm bringing Islam, my nine-year-old son who I'm afraid could have lymphoid cancer. I'm really scared. But at least when we got into the reception there were people smiling and taking care of us." For this bewildered, crying and terrified mother, Sayed's first hour in the hospital was important as it was for Islam who sat playing with little toys given to him upon his arrival. "Everything is easy. When they asked me for the personal information required for the admission of Islam into the examination room, they were really very helpful. I did not even have to fill in the application myself because I also have my two-year-old daughter. There was a young woman who filled in the application for me," Sayed said. But what most impressed Sayed and other mothers who are challenged with the sudden, serious illness of their children's fragile bodies is the overall efficient process. Of seven parents that Al-Ahram Weekly encountered regarding the quality of admission services, five said they were very satisfied. One said it was fine except for the fact that she thought it was necessary for the hospital to provide children with some water and juice along with the toys and balloons. And one was uncomfortable with the determination of the administration to allow only one parent into the examination room with a daughter just a few months old. "I just wanted to know what is wrong with my daughter," said Ahmed Hussein, a blind father. "I just want to know if she needs anything; then I'll leave her with her mother. After all, there's not much I can do. I just want to hear her voice." Doctors and nurses at the Children's Cancer Hospital might be too stiff in their determination to apply the rules. However, this firmness, which they say is essential, is complemented with a considerable sense of compassion, even if somewhat artificial, that is demonstrated both on the side of the medical staff and that of a group of public relations personnel who emerge whenever there's a problem. "It is our duty to comfort these parents. They often panic more than the children who, especially if very young, do not really fully understand what is going on," said Ayman Salah, an escort stationed at the entrance of the hospital. Salah said more often than not parents need as much reassurance as the children. "People come in with a clear sense of apprehension especially with regards to the expenses of the treatment for their children. At times we have had parents who did not believe us fully when we told them that the service at this hospital is free," Salah said. "It is very important that this service is free," said Naglaa Abdel-Fattah, an unmistakably grievous mother with hardly any sign of sufficient economic resources to show. "It really is. It is already expensive for us to pay our way from [the governorate of] Baheira to Cairo twice a week for the chemotherapy sessions that Ayman will need to take for the next five months and may be more." Having already spent a few hundred pounds, all of her savings and extras that were borrowed from relatives, for elementary medical tests that had failed to properly diagnose the exact case of her nine-year-old son, Abdel-Fattah demonstrates no hesitation in stressing the need for the hospital to have "a few rooms for the residence of a parent who has to come all the way from far away." Doctors and mangers of the hospital say there is already a plan to build what they qualify as "a compound of guest houses" to allow for parents with limited economic resources and with long trips to make to find decent shelter. According to Dr Mohamed Aggag, director of medical imaging at the hospital, the quality of modern and highly efficient medical equipment available at the Children's Cancer Hospital is found nowhere else. As such, he finds it only normal that many patients would be trying to access the medical care the hospital offers. Nurses and doctors working at the hospital attribute their popularity not just to their services but also to the quality of special medical and psychological training they have been accorded. Nurse Heba Abdel-Hamid told the Weekly that she and almost every other nurse working at the hospital have been getting extensive training for over a year. If first impressions are true, then with the exception of a slightly harsh attitude here and there or a bathroom that needs an extra go with the brush, the new Children's Cancer Hospital promises to be a positive addition to what is otherwise a largely frustrating public healthcare system. A good number of the employees attribute the polished style and services that the hospital provides to the direct and continuous involvement of Mrs Mubarak. Some parents told the Weekly that they were concerned that it will not be long before this impressive medical centre descends into yet another chaos-run and unclean public hospital. But the hospital's doctors and nurses pledge this will not happen.
