GNA – Dr Lawrence Osei-Tutu, Paediatric Haem/Oncologist, Komfo Anokye Hospital, has called on health professionals to first look out for signs of childhood cancer in every child they see to be able to diagnose effectively.
Dr Osei Tutu, also the first Vice President of the Childhood Cancer Society of Ghana (CCSG), said cancers at the beginning stage behave like anything else such as cold thus health professionals needed to update themselves to be responsive to some of these things and think about it before they could diagnose and treat effectively.
“Cancer is a treacherous disease. Some books refer to it as the ” Emperor of all malignancies” it comes to you like a common cold but after diagnosis it might be leukaemia and that is why unfortunately many health professionals miss it till it is too late”, he stated.
Dr Osei-Tutu said “so if you don’t consider it first you will never know”.
He made the call on the side lines of the First Annual General Meeting and inauguration of the Childhood Cancer Society of Ghana in Accra.
He said there were so many aspects of cancer care but one thing was to be able to diagnose that the cancer is there, and also know it early because the implication of the simple thing is that it is endless.
“Less of resources, human efforts, less facilities, and less cash to treat such cancers, decreases one’s chances of curing the disease especially in a low-middle income country like Ghana where there is competition for resources”, he added.
He advised the public to visit a facility when they feel unwell for proper diagnosis and also urged that parents immediately report to the hospital when they begin to experience symptoms in a child such as waist pain especially at night, headache, vomiting early in the morning, bumps on the skin, and any abnormality with the eye.
The CCSG, comprising of medical and nursing professionals, nutritionists, social workers, teachers among others are mandated to advocate at the national level to ensure that children with cancers were able to access effective quality lifesaving care wherever they are.
It would also support the implementation of the National Childhood Cancer Strategy which is at the draft stage.
The CCSG would actively undertake awareness creation, facilitate capacity building, participate in policy development and come up with ingenious ways of promoting universal health coverage for children with cancer.
Dr Osei-Tutu said the inauguration of CCSG, would allow for effective communication, coordination, and decision making within a complex care setting.
This would expedite care to limit systemic delays contributing to abandonment of treatment, he added.
GNA