Mpango issues directive over Lake Zone cancer cases

Mwanza. The Vice President, Dr Philip Mpango, has instructed the ministry of Health to conduct a study and establish the reasons behind high cancer cases in the Lake Zone.

Gracing the inauguration of the Bugando Cancer Centre (BCC) at the Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) yesterday, Dr Mpango instructed the ministry of Health to provide Sh500 million to BMC to fund the ongoing cancer research with the aim of identifying why the Lake Zone regions have high cancer cases.

“It is important to conduct a research considering that the Lake Zone has manycancer patients. I urge other stakeholders to contribute funds in that research in order to identify the cause of the problem and come up with suggestions which will lead us to solutions that will endcancer problems in the Lake Zone regions” said Dr Mpango.

Though he did not directly compare cancer cases in the Lake Zone to other zones within the country, Dr Mpango said that statistics show that over 45,000 people were being treated of various cancer types at Bugando each year.

He also urged Tanzanians to avoid the use of alcohol and tobacco and that they should cultivate a culture of making physical exercises to fight cancer.

The new facility at the BCC, which has been built at a total cost of Sh5.6 billion will accommodate 120 cancer in-patients per day.

Dr Mpango also directed the Health ministry to provide Sh3.1 billion to the BMC in order to fund the purchase of one of the cancer treatment machines.

The BMC Director General, Dr Fabian Massaga said that despite the completion of the building, the hospital still faces a shortage of equipment worth Sh15 billion in order to provide better cancer treatment.

Dr Massaga said over 55,000 cancer patients received chemotherapy and 2,500 radiation therapy last year.

“11,000 citizens have been given cancer awareness training in Mwanza region in 2021. This has increased the number of people attending for cancer check-up hence enabling us to identify new cancer cases,” said Dr Massaga.

Regarding the research, Dr Massaga said the hospital’s researchers have collected blood samples from eight regions which are stored at Bugando laboratory for further examination.

“Until now we have samples from eight Lake Zone regions, they have been stored in the hospital’s laboratory and the research is ongoing, when it is completed we will reveal the outcomes,” he said.

On his side, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Godwin Mollel said the government has allocated Sh6 billion to Mwanza region to buy medicine while BMC received Sh2.1 billion to purchase of MRI machine.