Guidelines for cancer management launched in Accra
The Ghana Health Service has launched the first-ever national guidelines for effective cancer management and diagnoses in the country.
The 126-page document is expected to provide simple guidelines to the management of five cancers, including breast, cervical, prostrate and childhood cancers.
It has been made user-friendly so that healthcare professionals at all levels can use it.
The document describes in detail various interventions that should be performed at each level of care depending on the expertise, available equipment and the appropriate centres for referrals.
The guidelines are a follow-up to the national strategy for cancer control document that provided tools and knowledge for various categories of health professionals to give appropriate care to cancer patients.
Standardisation and uniformity
Launching the document in Accra yesterday, the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, said the guidelines would facilitate the standardisation and uniformity in cancer care across the country.
He said that would ensure that no cancer patient was given inferior care by virtue of their location or financial status.
“The document is user-friendly with clear guidelines on activities for respective cancer care at various levels of care, including referrals,” he said.
Dr Nsiah-Asare said the inclusion of the very basic level of the healthcare system in the document fitted well into the national objective for achieving universal health coverage.
“I am happy with the content of the document, which is very intensive.
I implore all practitioners to use it and follow it efficiently to help reduce the cancer burden,” he said.
Funding
Dr Nsiah-Asare said the cost of producing the document was born by Roche Products Ghana, a pharmaceutical and health research institution, and expressed gratitude to the company for the immense support.
The Country Manager of Roche Products Ghana, Mr Joao Paulo Magalhaes, said it would continue to support quality healthcare delivery in Ghana.
He said the company supported the initiative because it believed that every cancer patient deserved quality health care irrespective of location and financial status.
Writer’s email:
Doreen.andoh @graphic.com.gh