Dr. Anthony Nsiah-AsareN
In a bid to strengthen cancer care in the country, a new guideline for the management of cancers has been outdoored.
The 126-pagedocument titled ‘National Guideline for Cancer Management’ will augment the aims of the ‘National Strategy for Cancer Control’ by providing tools and knowledge for various categories of health practitioners to make decisions regarding cancer patients at their levels of competence.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, who spoke at the launch of the book, justified the need for such guidelines in the treatment of cancers in the country.
He said although the country’s cancer control strategy provides information on policy and the basis for control, it does not contain sufficient information on management of the disease.
“As a surgeon, I am all too aware of the havoc cancers cause in our society. This document will contribute in no small way to reversing this trend,” he stated.
Dr. Nsiah-Asare, therefore, urged health practitioners to acquaint themselves with the contents of the book to ensure that the carefully thought-out intentions of the document to improve cancer care in Ghana are achieved.
Guidelines
The guidelines seek to address management of the five most common cancers in Ghana such as breast, cervical, prostrate, lymphomas and childhood cancers, which were found to be amenable to curative treatment.
It is user-friendly with clear guidelines on activities for respective cancers at the various levels of care, including referrals, while well laid out procedures were made available for easy usage by all healthcare professionals.
There is also information on the various laboratory investigations with respect to the levels of care, including the community-based health planning and services (CHPS) in the guideline, fitted very well in the country’s objective of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The Country Manager of Roche Product Ghana Limited, Joao Paulo Magalnaes, a key player in the development of the document, said the company believes that every cancer patient, irrespective of where they live and financial status, deserves to be treated equally with the right standard of care.
He added that apart from the several other innovative treatments being developed, the company would soon launch the first immuno-therapy that extends significantly the survival of breast cancer patients.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri