Management of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) held discussions with representatives of the Eugène Gasana Jr. Foundation at the premises of GAEC for the establishment of a hospital dedicated to the treatment of cancer in children.
The International Children’s Cancer Research Centre (ICCRC) is a model concept of a paediatric cancer centre that will ensure that children of Africa with cancer have access to the same quality of care as children in the West.
The facility with state-of-the-art equipment will be constructed within 30 months and situated in Kyebi in the Eastern Region of Ghana to serve the country and the sub region as a whole.
Speaking at the programme, the Director General of GAEC, Prof. Samuel Boakye Dampare, expressed gratitude to the partners for the proposed establishment of the hospital and assured them of the Commission’s immense interest in the project.“We are optimistic that the project will benefit the society especially children living with cancer and as you have indicated, paediatric cancer cases keep going up and we have to do something about it”, he said.
He expressed the Commissions utmost support for the project to come to fruition. “Our Medical Physics Department is a Regional Designated Centre for the African region where we have been training a lot of people and with ICCRC on board, it will also help a lot to serve the African region very well”, he added.
A member of the group, Dr. Tanya Trippett, responding to a question raised by the Deputy Director General of GAEC, Prof. Dickson Adomako, revealed that their collaboration with GAEC will focus on three main areas; training of Ghanaian Medical Physicists, GAEC providing technical support for the operation of the health facility and collaboration with GAEC Scientists in cancer research.
By: CPRC, CCD.
