Otiko Afisa Djaba and Dr Beatrice Wiafe-Addai during the opening of the training
There is now hope for poor patients suffering from breast and cervical cancers in the country, as government will henceforth support them with funds for their treatment.
The Minister of Gender, Children & Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, making the announcement, explained that the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) would cater for the cancer patients, who are vulnerable.
She added that other poor patients who are also suffering from diseases such as fistula, haemophilia and cerebral palsy have also been included in the LEAP programme by government to help them to stay alive.
“The Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection has taken note of the vulnerability of women living with cancer, especially those in extremely poor communities. That is why we are adding them along with fistula, haemophilia and cerebral palsy patients to the LEAP programme to ensure that they are well catered for,” the minister announced the good news.
She was speaking during the official opening of a national basic oncology training for community-based nurses, who were selected from 29 districts in the Ashanti Region and 26 districts in the Eastern Region on Monday.
Madam Afisa Djaba bemoaned how breast cancer is sending more Ghanaian women to their graves earlier than expected, suggesting that “there should be one district, one breast care unit to help save our women from dying early”.
In all, 130 jobless nurses, including 70 from Ashanti Region and 60 from the Eastern Region, are taking part in the five-day extensive training at the Peace & Love Hospital at Oduom in Kumasi.
The Breast Care International (BCI), Ghana, headed by renowned breast surgeon, Dr Mrs Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, is the organiser of the training. Resource persons from the USA, France, Morocco and Ghana will train the nurses.
After their intensive training, the nurses would be visiting homes, clinics and other places in their various districts and diagnose people suffering from breast cancer and refer them to appropriate hospitals for prompt treatment to help save their lives.
Dr Wiafe-Addai cautioned the public to refrain from taking breast cancer patients to prayers camps and herbalists, reiterating that “herbal medicine cannot cure breast cancer”.
She mentioned that the training, aside providing job for the nurses, would also help bring breast cancer care to the doorstep of the public.
The renowned breast surgeon added that trainees would also check the sugar level blood pressure and breast status of people in their various vicinities and advise them accordingly.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi