Cancer treatment centre opens in Kumasi

Treatment of various forms of cancer is to start at the Radiotherapy Centre of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi before the end of the year.

The commissioning of the Centre this month, had been rescheduled for latest January 2003, Professor Edmund K. Osae, Acting Director of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) told the Ghana News Agency in Accra after the opening of a five-day regional workshop for the development of legal framework governing the safety for radioactive waste management and safe transport of radioactive material.

He said that specialists had been trained and more were being trained in the United Kingdom and the South Africa to man the Kumasi Centre and appealed to the government to raise the service conditions of the health professionals to retain them in the system.

Prof. Osae said there was evidence of a rise of cancer cases in the country and advised for early diagnosis in recognised health institutions for early treatment and management.

Thirty-four radiation scientists and legal experts from 17 English speaking African countries are participating in the workshop being organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in co-operation with the GAEC. There are also representatives from Austria, Belgium and India.

Prof. Osae said the KATH Radiotherapy Centre was in addition to the one at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital; the only one in the West African sub-region, and would similarly serve the Ghanaian community, especially those in the middle belt, and other cancer patients in the West African sub-region.

He said the Centre would not only save lives, but also would reduce the high cost of treatment, which was often sought abroad and conserve foreign exchange.

The Acting Director of GAEC said about 3,000 Ghanaians and foreigners who had cancer have been taken care of at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital since it became operational four years ago.