Kumasi, Jan. 21, GNA - The Radiotherapy Centre of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is to establish a cancer registry in the Ashanti Region to help identify the disease burden and how to address it.

The centre is also intensifying its education programme by providing more posters and reading materials in all the common languages to provide the public with more information about the disease. Dr Patrick Karikari, acting Chief Executive of KATH announced this at the inauguration of the Radiotherapy Centre at KATH in Kumasi on Friday.

The centre was constructed with a five million-dollar funding from the International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA) while the Ghana Government supported it with 8.4 billion cedis.

Dr Karikari said the vision of the Centre was to provide a comprehensive cancer service to patients and the general public in the prevention of the disease, adding that, the Centre had also initiate research on prevention of cancers in the areas of diet, cervical cancer screening and clinical breast examination.

He said the Centre, which started operations in 2004, radiated 304 patients the same year, 65 out of the patients had Branchy therapy. Dr Karikari said 446 patients had chemotherapy and 82 patients were heamo transfused.

The haematology clinical and medical oncology managed 1,052 and 1,107 patients respectively.

Dr Karikari said the Centre needed simulator, C-arm x-ray machine, another branchy therapy machine, treatment planning system, contamination monitor, survey meters and resources for setting up a nuclear machine unit at the Centre.

He thanked the IAEA and the Ghana Government for the Centre, which would offer quality cancer treatment services to the public. Dr Kwaku Afriyie, outgoing Minister of Health, said the Centre, which would serve the northern sector of the country, was long overdue since KATH was considered as one of the largest hospitals in Africa. He said the challenge facing the country now was to train more radiotherapists to manage the facilities and commended the IAEA for its initiative to train personnel for the Centre.

Dr Afriyie said the ministry had put in place measures to get the most needed results from the Centre.

Professor Kofi Baffoe-Bonnie, a Board Member of KATH, who chaired the function, said the Centre would provide fundamental solution to the treatment of cancer in the northern sector and appealed to the government to provide facilities at the Hospital to upgrade it into a five-star hospital in the northern sector.