Surgeon calls for effective fund mobilization for breast cancer care

Dr. Martin Mona, a Consultant Surgeon and Head of the Surgery Department at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), has called for the activities of the breast cancer awareness month to be extended to include funds mobilization to support care and treatment of the disease.

He said treatment and care for breast cancer were increasingly becoming expensive and as such, patients sometimes became overwhelmed with the financial burden which compelled them to default treatment and resort to unproven remedies.

Dr. Mona made the call at the launch of this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the CCTH and stressed the need for stakeholders to recommit their efforts to the fight against breast cancer in the country.

This years’ celebration is on the theme: “Working together to get her”.

Dr. Mona underscored the importance of increased awareness of the disease to reduce its psycho-social and economic effects on patients and society at large.

He gave the history of breast cancer treatment at the CCTH, saying, hitherto, care was non-existence at the CCTH but due to persistent commitment, breast cancer patients had been receiving care and treatment at the hospital since 2011.

He said an average of 75 cancer patients were diagnosed each year since breast cancer care started in the Facility and lamented that the disease population was too young.

Dr. Eric Kofi Ngyedu, Chief Executive Officer of CCTH, said financial constraint in continuing care, was the major contributing factor in most breast cancer patients defaulting treatment.

Patients defaulting treatment, he said was eroding the successes chalked in the fight against breast cancer care and treatment.

He mentioned other factors to include the fear of mastectomies, erroneous beliefs, and myth surrounding breast cancer and its treatment among others.

Dr. Ngyedu in this regard urged stakeholders to take a critical look at the cost implications for breast cancer patients and offer some financial support to ease their burden.

According to an eight-year retrospective study on patients managed at the CCTH, 41 percent of them presented to the hospital with stage three (advance disease), 38 percent with stage four (metastatic disease) with only three percent of patients presenting to the facility with the early stage.

The statistics, he said was worrying because the age population of the patients were women in their reproductive years and could have a dire socio-economic impact on the country.

He said the CCTH had supported and would continue to support the fight against breast cancer by providing access to education, screening, and management of the disease.