Ghana to build first international paediatric cancer centre

An International Paediatric Cancer Centre, the first of its kind in the world, is to be built in Ghana as a center of excellence in cancer care on the African continent.

The centre is the first step of a broad global initiative being undertaken by the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation to enhance the rate of cure of cancer in children, through increasing access to comprehensive cancer care.

Dr. Tanya Trippett, President of the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation, made this known on Monday, March 27, 2017, when she, together with a delegation from the Foundation, paid a courtesy call on the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The 94-bed state-of-the-art, according to Dr. Trippett, will also serve as a teaching facility for medical professionals in Ghana and the continent, with the infrastructure of the hospital also designed to meet high international standards for delivery of quality cancer care for children.

She also revealed that the centre will factor in lodging facilities for patients and parents, in addition to the recruitment of visiting international medical professionals to aid in training of medical professionals in the delivery of high quality care.

Four of such centres, Dr. Trippett stated, will be built across the world in four other continents, with the centre in Ghana being the “flagship project.” The project, she added, will be completed within two years.

President Akufo-Addo, on his part, thanked Dr. Tanya Trippett and the Eugene Gasana Jr. Foundation for the gesture of their visit, and for making Ghana the first country in the world for the setting up of this “critical piece of infrastructure.”

Describing the project as a “brilliant idea with immense benefits for our country”, President Akufo-Addo noted that the International Paediatric Cancer Centre will “bridge the gap in the field of cancer care of children” in Ghana and in Africa.