Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - The Health Care Global Enterprise (HCG), South Asia's largest Cancer Care Network, on Monday called for the need to empower and improve Oncology Centres and Cancer management in Africa.

Dr. B.S Ajaikumar, Managing Director of HCG, who made the call at a press briefing in Accra, said the risk of dying from cancer in Africa was almost doubled the risk in developed countries. Cancer accounts for 12.5 per cent of deaths among humans, he said.

He explained that some cancers including cervical cancer were preventable and treatable "but most often people in Africa or the developing countries find treatment very expensive and at times services not available".

Oncology care in India, he explained, had proven successful and HCG would ensure that it provided high quality and integrate comprehensive cancer treatment to all segments of the society by adopting global innovations in cancer care and management.

"An HCG enterprise is currently a leader in cancer care managing a network of 18 cancer centres in South Asia. Each centre is provided with a business system, management expertise and capital resources to bring patient focused, state-of-the-art cancer care to new regions of the country", he said.

Dr. P. S. Sridhar, Managing Director of Consultant Radiation Oncology in India, said technologies used in treating cancer which included the Cyberknife technology, a potent fighter against cancer.

The technology checks the position of the tumour, its movements as well as the movements of the patient and delivers the treatment accurately.

"Unlike the conventional surgical technology, the CyberKnife system uses the skeletal structure of the body, rather than invasive metal frames and skull pins, as a reference point for identifying the tumour position throughout the treatment."

Just like a surgeon's knife, it would just treat the tumour and go around the tumour alone. CyberKnife radiation just focuses on the tumour itself. It is allowing doctors to treat tumours in hard-to-reach places like the brain, lungs, liver, prostate and spine", he explained.

Mrs. Demay Alabi, Country Director for Global Resource and Project International, called for a fulfilling environment where doctors and staff would advance the future of cancer care, clinical research and technology in Africa.