Cancer treatment centre at advanced stage—Government
The government has said the cancer treatment centre under construction in Lilongwe will be completed by the end of this year.
Minister of Health and Population, Atupele Muluzi, said this in Lilongwe on Friday.
He said the government is doing its best to ensure that completion of the facility meets its September deadline.
“Construction works are going on well and are at an advanced stage. We are also in the process of procuring the necessary equipment.
“We want to make sure that this cancer centre is a centre of excellence, not just in Malawi but also in the region,” Muluzi said.
Muluzi said the government has sent doctors for training in countries such as India to promote specialisation.
“This government is committed to fighting cancer at all cost; hence, the need to speed up the process of the construction of the cancer treatment centre,” Muluzi said.
He noted that cancer remains a public health problem in Malawi.
“Studies done by my ministry reveal that, from 28 public hospitals, there were 10,300 new cancer cases between 2009 and 2013, and that new cases were about 13,000 in 2018, a situation which is worrisome,” Muluzi said.
He added that less than 5 per cent of the cancer patients have access to radiotherapy in the country. For the rest of Africa, the access to radiotherapy for cancer patients is far less than 50 per cent, according to the minister.
“That is why the Government of Malawi decided to construct its own cancer treatment centre to ease the situation for people suffering from the deadly disease as they will be accessing immediate treatment,” explained Muluzi.
He said the coming in of the cancer treatment centre at Kamuzu Central Hospital would go a long way in enhancing the delivery of cancer care as well as play an important role in advancing the clinical functions of cancer systems.—Mana
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