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A cancer treatment centre has been inaugurated at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) to serve patients in the Northern, North East, Upper East, Upper West and Savannah regions.
The oncology centre has patients’ waiting rooms, three consulting rooms, chemotherapy room, procedure room, infusion pumps, counselling room, washrooms and other amenities for the convenience of patients.
Constructed by the Nelly Foundation, a humanitarian organisation, in collaboration with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the centre would treat cancer patients, create awareness and conduct periodic cancer screening exercises.
It will also augment the existing oncology centre at the hospital and enhance quality health care of cancer patients who, hitherto, had to be in long queues to be attended to due to the pressure on the existing facility.
Inaugurating the facility, the acting Chief Executive of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr Adam Atiku, said the centre would help save many lives and lessen the burden of patients who had been having traumatic experiences before accessing health care.
He lamented the cost and trauma cancer patients went through and expressed optimism that the centre would go a long way to address the needs of patients.
Dr Atiku appealed for mammogram and radiotherapy machines to undertake comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients, saying “currently, we don’t have such machines so patients have to travel to Kumasi to access such services”.
While thanking the Nelly Foundation and the NPA for the gesture, Dr Atiku pledged his outfit’s commitment to take proper care of the facility to enable it to serve the intended purpose.
The founder of Nelly Foundation, Ellen Sey Batin, indicated that the centre was established in honour of her late mother who died as a cancer patient in the Netherlands.
She also expressed gratitude to the management of the hospital for taking good care of her when she was on admission as a cancer patient at the oncology unit some time ago.
The Deputy Chief Executive Office of NPA, Linda Asante, reiterated the authority’s commitment to ensuring quality health care in the country.
In 2021, the TTH inaugurated its first oncology centre, which was built by Roche Product Ghana Limited in collaboration with World Child Cancer.
The GH¢600,000 facility was to help enhance quality health care for cancer patients in the area.
Apart from the infrastructure, the benefactors also provided the necessary ancillary facilities for doctors in the hospital to offer quality treatment to cancer patients.
