Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, the Minister of Health says he envisages the Kumasi Metropolis becoming a hub for cancer care and treatment.
This, he noted is because of the selection of the City as African Key Learning City in Cancer by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICCC).
Addressing participants and stakeholders in the Health Sector during the official announcement of Kumasi as the choice of the Union For International Cancer Control (UICC) Project, the Mr Manu stressed the choice of Kumasi is good omen for Ghana.
According to him, apart from the health benefits the project promises to bring to Ghana and the African continent as a whole since this is the first of its kind, the Kumasi Metropolis also stands to benefit from the tourism potentials the cancer center is envisaged to attract.
MAYOR:
Recounting with nostalgia how Kumasi came to attract this international recognition, Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, Mayor for Kumasi said the world cancer team that visited Kumasi in October, 2017 were overwhelmed by the tremendous work the cancer treatment center at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) had undertaken.
This, undoubtedly convinced the group to announce the Kumasi City as a fitting place to site a world class center to deal with cancer treatment and care, the Mayor posited.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly(KMA), the Mayor disclosed will be playing host to the first Union for International Cancer Control meeting in February next month.
He, therefore, asked stakeholders as well as the media to support the project by helping to educate the public on what the project entails.
SPECIALIST:
In a brief presentation on the cancer records and treatment at the special treatment center at KATH, Dr Baffuor Awuah, Specialist and Cancer Surgeon said Kumasi recorded 739 cases of cancer.
However, in the space of five years, Dr Awuah mentioned the center has recorded about 2,566 cases of several cancers.
932 out of these cases representing 36.3% were recorded for males whose ages ranged from 50 years and above, the Specialist noted.
The female folk, Dr Awuah revealed accounted for 63.7% of the cases reported at the center with most of them being sufferers of breast cancer from ages 51 upwards.
He dispelled the notion that cancers were incurable and admonished the public to report any symptoms of ill health to the hospital so as to get early treatment and care.
CHIEF:
Baffuor Asare Owusu Amankwatia VI, Bantamahene and chairman for the function in Kumasi commended the KMA boss and the doctors at the KATH treatment center for ensuring the metropolis secures this international recognition in the area of cancer care.
He urged them to tap into all the potentials that are bound to arise from the upcoming project so as to ensure Kumasi benefits from it.
