By Navendra Seoraj

CANCER has been one the leading causes of death in the world, and with Guyana being no exception to the list of countries that record cases of cancer, Government has considered the possibility of building a cancer centre, through a public/private partnership.
The cases of cancer have increased, locally, over the years and, in order to ensure that cancer patients get the requisite attention and treatment, Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, believes the construction of a cancer centre would be timely.

“We would like to build a cancer centre through a public/private partnership, so that men and women who are suffering from cancer can have special attention and they can go and get their tests done and be treated,” said Minister Lawrence during a recent interview with Social Activist, Mark Benschop, on Benschop Radio.

She said the Ministry of Public Health had acquired a lot of information on cancer, through research, so it is in a better position to pay special attention to the persons suffering from cancer.

The ministry also intends on using the available information to find other solutions and to put measures in place to improve the response to cancer.
In 2015, Guyana had launched the 10-Year Cancer Profile 2003-2012. At the launch of the profile Resident Representative of PAHO/WHO, Dr. William Adu-Krow, had said Cancer was the leading cause of death in the Americas.

He said that in 2012, cancer accounted for 1.3 million deaths, 47 per cent of which occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The number of cancer deaths in the Americas was projected to increase from 1.3 million to 2.1 million between 2012 and 2030.
Dr. Adu-Krow had said: “in Guyana between 2003 – 2012 we have recorded 6,518 cancer cases, for an overall cumulative incidence rate of 867.7 per 100,000 population with an annual incidence rate of 87.3 per 100,000 population.”

At that time, 60.7 per cent of the patients were females and 39.3 per cent were males, giving a male to female ratio of 1:1.54.

He said too that what was alarming was the fact that ‘staging’ of cancers in Guyana was highly inadequate with almost a third of cancers not being ‘staged’.
“If 40 per cent of cancers can be prevented, then we need to pay more attention to preventative measures,” said Dr. Adu-Krow.

It was reported, then, that while on a global scale lung cancer was deemed the leading cause of cancer deaths, in Guyana breast cancer was responsible for the highest number of cancer-related fatalities. Cervical cancer has since taken the lead.
The Cancer Surveillance Report had revealed that there were 1,090 cases of breast cancer over the period under consideration in the report. Following the prevalence of breast cancer was cancer of the cervix which accounts for 1,014 cases; prostate (865 cases); colorectal (440 cases); uterus (325 cases); stomach (240 cases); lung (233 cases); liver (219 cases); ovary (212 cases) and lymphoma (136 cases).

Currently in Guyana, the primary cancer treatment institution is the Cancer Institute of Guyana (CIG), which is a Non-Profit Organisation that has been in operation since 2006. It was a project between the Ministry of Health and Global Imaging Services Inc.

The mission of the CIG is to provide evaluation, radiation treatment at a subsidised cost and follow-up services for patients with malignant and certain benign diseases which are performed in accordance with standards of the Ministry of Health and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).