Dr Victor Dejor, Specialist Radiologist at the Soyus Diagnostic Centre in Kumasi, has attributed the high rate of breast and other cancer related deaths to late reporting to health facilities.
Ghana records 17,944 cancer related deaths annually with breast cancer alone accounting for 5,026 cases.
However, Dr. Dejor, speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Kumasi, pointed out that, such needless deaths could have been avoided if the cases were reported earlier in hospitals.
He said breast cancer screening was being done in almost all health facilities in Ghana and it was important for the public to take advantage of it and seek early diagnosis and treatment.
Again, the World Health Organization, has set aside the month of October to create awareness of breast cancer and other cancers to help educate the people and the need to seek early diagnosis to help reduce the spread of breast cancers, especially in developing countries.
Dr. Dejor said patients mostly reported cancer cases at the advanced stage and blamed it on superstition, religious beliefs, poverty and myths associated with the disease.
“It is worrying to see cases that are so bad and nothing can be done about it”, he said.
He called on the government to equip all the regional health facilities with modern Mammographie equipment to enhance the treatment and fight against breast cancer.
Patients must also not rely on shrines and prayer camps but rather seek early treatment at the hospitals to stay alive.
Source: GNA
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