Childhood Cancers Increasing Deaths In Children At KATH

The increasing number of deaths in children at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in the Ashanti Region, is said to be as a result of childhood cancers.

Public Health Specialist and Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, Dr Joslin Alexei Dogbe attributed the development to the delay in seeking treatment.

Dr. Dogbe says many parents will only come to the hospital after other alternative treatments, including herbal medicine, fail.

By this time, most of the harm is already done.

“Most of them come late because they have gone through various modules of treatments, by the time they arrive here there is little we can do,” he bemoaned.

Dr Dogbe made these revelations when students of the Africa Hall at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology visited the Oncology Unit of the hospital as part of the Hall’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

To mark the occasion, the all-female hall students donated a cash amount of GHS5,000 to the Oncology unit of the hospital.

The Warden at the Hall, Dr. Marian Asantewaa Nkansah, hoped that the money will be used for the purchase of equipment and other needs of the unit.

“We hope three chemotherapy chairs and infant weighing scales will be purchased with this token,” she said.

It is estimated that 43 children worldwide are diagnosed with cancers every day. Though 80 percent of childhood cancers is curable, 12 percent of infected persons hardly survive.

Source: Myjoyonline