Accra, Feb.4 , GNA – Professor James Mensah, Head of the Department of Surgery at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), has advocated the training of more urologists, anesthetics, and nurses to manage the increasing cancer cases in the country.
He said presently Ghana has only 46 qualified urologists to attend to cancer cases across the country, which made it impossible to treat more cancers and disorders that affected the urinary system on time.
Urologists are medical doctors who specialise in conditions that affect the kidney, bladder, urinary tract and reproductive system in men, women, and children.
Prof Mensah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra that it was urgent now for Ghana to train the next generation of urologists locally to enable them to relate to the local cases.
“When more urologists are trained in the country, they are able to solve local problems with local resources and make treatment affordable to all,” he said.
“The Surgical Unit at the KBTH has exceeded its capacity, neuron surgery is one of our biggest challenges, we have too many patients, we must expand the theaters and develop manpower to attend to more cases,” Prof. Mensah said.
He said eating balanced diets, exercising, reducing intake of read meat, saturated fats, alcohol, and tobacco could reduce one’s risk of developing cancers.
World Cancer Day is celebrated across the globe on February 4 each year to create awareness, inspire change and reduce the global impact of cancer.
The observation of the Day is to reduce misconceptions surrounding cancer and the prejudices associated with it.
It also offers a chance to make an impact in the betterment of the life of cancer patients and survivors.
The theme for this year’s celebration, “Close the Care Gap” seeks to motivate reform and inspire action, even after the Day.
Cancer is a disease caused when cells divide uncontrollably and spread into surrounding tissues in the body.
It develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stops working and old cells grow out of control forming new and abnormal cells.
The Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs) Unit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the last three years recorded 15,822 cases of prostate cancers, 6,430 breast cancer cases and 2,642 cases of cervical cancers.
The most common case types of cancers recorded in Ghana are prostate cancers, childhood cancers, breast cancers, kidney cancers, cervical cancers, liver, lung, vaginal and vulvar cancers, ovarian cancers, among others.
GNA