ONCOLOGIST SPEAKS : Why oncology was a forgotten field and why it matters now

I always knew I wanted to become a doctor, motivated by the desire to help the sick in society, especially women and children. During my journey to university I was constantly being told of the meager salaries that doctors receive. However, I was determined for a greater cause.

During my days in medical school, I realised I had developed particular interest in various areas of specialisation—from surgery to psychiatry.

Majory went on to pursue those I would call “fancy’’ specialties but very few—if not none of them thought of the “humble’’ ones such as oncology.

The reason that could have made many to neglect oncology was that it was believed to be a specialty where you only deal with the people who are in their terminal stages of life.

Many would think of dealing with patients who are depressed. This made oncology very unpopular and not talked about.

Secondly, as a country, cancer treatment is free of charge by law, making it even harder to make money out of it.

This actually meant that being an Oncologist meant one was going to lead a poorer lifestyle as compared to his or her peers in other fields.

Even during medical training, cancer was never given the attention it deserves, hence it was taught as a part of other main courses and possibly it was largely believed this was a disease for the developed countries.

Upon completion of my medical degree, I joined my colleagues to lift the burden of disease off the shoulders of Tanzanians at a primary healthcare level. I was already taking care of them at hospitals, treating a common mwananchi. I loved my job despite low pay.

A few years down the road I had to decide. The plan was medicine, a field where you are jack of trades but a master of almost none. The interest in this was cultivated by the way the internists at Muhimbili National Hospital carried themselves; smartly and confidently.

However, my mind took a 360 degrees turn when a World Health Organisation(WHO) report on cancer came out that year, in 2012, projecting an increase in cancer rates globally.

It was estimated that cancer mortality would rise to about 14.1 million with death rates of about 8.2 million.

Of course the picture was different between developed and developing countries where we still have infectious diseases as the leading cause of death.

However, the less developed countries were about to feel the burden even more with 65 per cent of the deaths due to cancer, contributing to a 57 per cent incidence.

The worldwide increase was said to be due to an ageing population and increase on the established risk factors like smoking, air pollution, inactivity and the like.

I feared for my people especially with regards to knowledge and that there were very few oncologists in the country. I chose to pursue oncology based on that newly acquired knowelde that came with the report.

In this practice, there is enormous work to be done and I will live each day fighting to stop cancer in Tanzania.

The author is an Oncologist based at Muhimbili National Hospital