Our Clinic #6: The Global Cancer Care and Research Institute in Kenya

Dr. Daniel Kimani is a trained and licensed medical officer in Kenya, holding a Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery, and a post-graduate certificate on basic oncology training. Dr. Kimani is the founder of the Global Cancer Care and Research Institute, and is an expert in clinical colposcopy — a procedure to examine the cervix, vagina, and vulva.  

In 2016, Dr. Daniel Kimani teamed up with a group of doctors and medical professionals to start the Global Cancer Care and Research Institute (GCCRI) to provide populations in Kenya with free cancer screenings and ensuring patients receive proper referrals. As an organization, GCCRI conducts research, education, and training. They also provide treatment and vaccinations through their “see, treat, and follow-up approach.”

According to Dr. Kimani, the Kenyan healthcare system is filled with “physicians that do see and treat, but never follow up with the patient.” Hence, he was adamant on creating a streamlined system utilizing innovative technologies to ensure that patients could receive immediate treatment following their diagnosis. Among these technologies is the Bouquet Speculum — a state of the art, 5 bladed speculum with a rechargeable illuminating torch. The Bouquet Speculum is also the only multi-purpose speculum with removable blades for surgical purposes.

“The ‘see’ step during a medical examination is important; however, we must consider what physicians are ‘seeing.’ Using the two-bladed speculum, we are prone to see wrong information because it only allows us a view of 50% of the cervix. Meanwhile, the Bouquet Speculum allows us to see 95% of the speculum,” comments Dr. Kimani. Besides its benefit of providing an unobstructed view of the uterine cervix, the Bouquet Speculum “also has 5 removable petals which enables numerous types of cervical or vaginal surgeries” including leep medicine, cryotherapy, thermal ablation, the insertion or removal of IUDs, and polypectomy. Hence, the Bouquet Speculum, due to its ability to be used during both the screening and treatment phases, has become a staple tool in GCCRI clinics. They use upwards of 150 speculums daily. 

Over the course of four years (2019-2022), GCCRI has screened over 400,000 women across 46 counties in Kenya for cervical or breast cancer. A notable case of Dr. Kimani’s concerns a 25-year-old married woman with an 8-year-old child. She was referred to Dr. Kimani from a government level-5 hospital, where she was misdiagnosed with cervicitis and put on a course of treatment that did not improve her condition for over 3 weeks. Upon arriving at GCCRI, Dr. Kimani’s screening revealed that the woman had HPV Cervical CIN 2 non-malignant lesions. According to Dr. Kimani, “the reason as to why the first facility missed the diagnosis of the cervical wart was due to the fact that there was no complete exposure of the cervix. The characteristic loss of visual field (using the two-bladed speculum) has led to so many missed diagnoses and failure to make the diagnosis on time. This has always caused death and advanced forms of cancer.” Using the Bouquet Speculum, Dr. Kimani was able to immediately treat the patient’s lesion with cryotherapy. Within 14 days, the lesion was completely gone.

Today, Dr. Kimani is considered a leader in the field of cervical cancer in Kenya. He is also an avid campaigner for the Bouquet Speculum. 

Story written and developed by Kaitlyn Gosakti.