Childhood cancer curable — Principal Nursing Officer
Contrary to the perception that childhood cancer is an early death warrant, the condition is highly curable when it is reported to medical experts early.
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Consequently, parents and guardians have been entreated to always report and send their children to the hospital early whenever they detect any symptoms of hormonal deficiency.
A Principal Nursing Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Enyo Asi Bosumprah, said: “The treatment of cancer in children has a survival rate of about 80 per cent, and the right treatment at the right time could save children living with cancer from untimely deaths”.
She said this when Miracle Encounter Outreach Ministries, a church organisation presented some medical equipment and consumables to the Paediatric Oncology Unit of the Department of Child Health of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
She said it was unfortunate that most cases of childhood cancer were reported at the latter stage when the condition had fully developed and it was too late to save the patient.
Self-medication, cost
Mrs Bosumprah said ignorance was contributing to many later reported cases being recorded and called for more education and awareness creation to help address it.
She said the hospital recorded about 489 new patients with cancer last year.
The Principal Nursing Officer also urged guardians and parents to desist from resorting to self-medication through over-the-counter medication and herbal treatment on the excuse of affordability.
Gesture
The items, worth GH¢50,000, included essential medicals, pulse oximeters, adult diapers, glucometer, disinfectants and a flat-screen television.
It also included assorted beverages, equipment for blood tests, breastfeeding bags, and COVID-19 test kits, among other items, for personal hygiene.
The gesture was to enhance childhood cancer treatment at the hospital and ease the burden of care on healthcare workers.
Rationale
The Head Pastor of the Outreach, Rev. Nathaniel Osei, who presented the items, said the donation was meant to assist the unit to improve on treatment and management of childhood cancer in the country.
He said the gesture would help improve diagnostic, supportive and curative care for people living with cancer, adding: “at least to help them have access to the best possible treatment and care.”
“As part of our vision is to visit our brethren who are in need.
All we try to do is extend love, and support and minister to them as well.
These items would augment the resources the department needs to save the lives of the patients who come to them for treatment,” he said.
Rev. Osei commended the staff of the unit for their dedication and hard work which ensured that children admitted to the unit survived and lived normal lives.
Appreciation
A Specialist Paediatrician of the Oncology Unit of the Children’s Department of the hospital, Dr Catherine Aduku, who received the donation, expressed appreciation to the donors for their gesture.
She thanked the team members and expressed the hope that the partnership created would continue so other patients could also benefit.
Dr Aduku stressed that treatment of childhood cancer was quite expensive and most parents could not afford so he appealed to benevolent organisations to emulate the gesture.
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