Kumasi City, the capital of the Ashanti Region has been commended by the World Cancer Body and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for carrying out interventions and initiatives in the care of cancers.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) noted that the Kumasi Team was creating more awareness of all forms of cancers and providing treatment regimes to deal with same.

The Director General said this during a stakeholders forum in Kumasi to review the project termed as the Cancer City Challenge.

Details:

The Kumasi City Manager of the Project, Abubakar Jaliu, giving an overview of the project said 38 health institutions had been assessed and were providing diagnosis and treatment for all forms of cancers.

53 patients, he disclosed were currently being treated after diagnosis from the team of cancer surgeons.

“As part of efforts to upscale the process of providing better care, treatment and support to Cancer patients, three surgeons have been sent abroad for further studies while 45 others have been supported back home to carry out their studies as hospitals such as KATH, Hope Exchange, Peace and Love Hospitals (PALH) and the Kumasi South Hospital have received five (5) special teaching microscopes for research”, the Project Manager stated.

Chairman of Kumasi City Cancer Project:
On his part, Hon Samuel Pyne, the Mayor for Kumasi and Chairperson for the Kumasi Cancer Project expressed the commitment of his team to carrying out its mandate to ensure cancers of all forms were reported early.

He noted when cancers are identified and reported on time, diagnosis could also be done on time and treatment regimes recommended for same.

The Mayor said the project has shown interesting outcomes whereby children are being identified for suffering from about four (4) childhood cancers.

“As chairperson my team and I are committed to using the achievements we have chalked as stepping stone to beginning the phase two of the project and our aim is to bring awareness to the public about cancers and the need for people to report same to hospitals when they discover symptoms so that we can carry out diagnosis and treatment when the disease is detected in children or in adults”, the Mayor stated.

Cancer Surgeon:

Chairperson of Ghana Non-Communicable Disease Alliance (GNCDA) and President of Breast Care International (BCI), Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe Addai in an interview commended the media for partnering with cancer advocates to bring awareness of the disease to the public

Such sensitization, she noted was helping the public to come to terms with symptoms of cancers and the treatment avenues available to them across the country.

She noted that as Member of the Kumasi City Cancer Project she was not blown away with the achievements they had chalked but was committed to doing more to help bring the scourge of cancers especially breast cancers and childhood ones down.

“We are measured in celebrating our modest achievements as a team because i believe more work needs to be done as we enter the second phase of the project so that we can deal with the scourge of cancers that are ravaging through our continent and particularly in Ghana”, Dr Mrs Addai posited.

Story By Michael Ofosu-Afriyie,

Kumasi.