The Tenth batch of Chinese medical team in South Sudan has helped put a smile on a family which had endured setbacks while in search of medical treatment for hitherto unknown medical condition afflicting the head of the household.
Chaplain Juma Lubang, a 62- year-old man developed rare cancerous tumor in the left side of his testicle which went undetected since 2013, despite several referrals to private and public hospitals in Juba.
His son Openi Woja Chaplain Juma, told The Juba Echo in Juba on Monday that after doctors in two major hospitals wrongfully diagnosed Lubang’s condition for hernia, they were left with the costly option of seeking treatment abroad.
A cancerous tumor known as seminoma was on Monday retrieved from the left side of Lubang’s testicle, after accurate diagnosis and later on operation conducted by Chinese medical team at the main Juba Teaching Hospital.
Seminoma is a slow-growing type of testicular cancer that primarily affects people in their 40s or 50s.
“My father’s condition started to deteriorate in 2013, I saw the testicle having small swelling and I took him to a private hospital where they never checked him, but instead told me he was suffering from hernia,” said Woja.
Woja said the swelling and pain continued until December 2022, forcing him to seek treatment from the Juba military hospital where the doctors also diagnosed his father for hernia.
This made Woja to resort to the last option of meeting the Chinese medical team in Juba Teaching Hospital which is no small feat, since the team is always busy handling all sorts of patients with varying medical conditions on weekly basis.
“In January, we came to Juba Teaching Hospital and we found doctor Peng Chunwei and his team and showed him all the medical checkup done by the Juba military hospital, after Peng checking the medical form he sent us to do testicle scan and when we brought back the medical form he told us this was not hernia but tumor,” said Woja.
“He told us the solution is to remove one of the testicles, and then after that they need to make medication which is not available in South Sudan,” he added.