Patients cheer free colostomy bags

LINDA SOKO TEMBO writes

@SunZambian

PEOPLE living with Ostomy have expressed happiness by the kind gesture by Stomacare Support Zambia (SSZ) to provide them with free colostomy bags. 

The people said it was expensive to buy bags, forcing some of them to make their own bags which were of inferior quality.

In an interview with the Sun, one of the patients Kay Manshi from Namwala said he had serious challenges buying colostomy bags because they were expensive for him.

Mr Manshi expressed happiness that the new bags would help him to move freely without feeling embarrassed about his condition.  

“I am very happy that they are people who thought about us with such conditions and have come up with such an organisation offering free colostomy bags. I used to feel shy to move around because of my condition but now I will be able to move freely,” he said.

Meanwhile, a senior citizen, Kennedy Mubita who had encountered many people with such conditions commended the organisation for its kind gesture.

Mr Mubita said people living with such conditions had faced many difficulties as it was not easy to access the right bags at an affordable price

“We have a good number of people with such conditions but are facing difficulties to access these bags. I know of someone who had such a condition in Chibombo and was using Shoprite plastics for fecal matter because in Zambia these items are very expensive. We want to commend this organisation for coming on board to assist the people,” he said. 

SSZ last week donated colostomy bags to 20 people at the cancer disease hospital and Levy Mwanawasa Teaching Hospital. It was still calling on more people to come and collect free bags.