Training to boost number of cancer specialists
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Chief Radiologist at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Stanley Rutajunara, explains how the linear accelerator machine is used in cancer treatment. File
By ISABELLA MUKUMU, [email protected]
Posted Tuesday, August 16 2016 at 19:16
IN SUMMARY
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[li]The pact between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a top notch cancer centre is also expected to boost cancer treatment.[/li][li]Another programme sponsored by the East African Development Bank and the British Council to build oncology and neurology capacity in East Africa.[/li][/ul]
The number of cancer patients who have been leaving the country for treatment overseas, especially India, has risen sharply due to a lack of specialised medics locally.
Official data shows that there are only 12 oncology specialists in Kenya, a situation that piles pressure on desperate patients to seek medical attention elsewhere.
This scenario could, however, change soon following a raft of ongoing and planned training programmes for oncology specialists. The University of Nairobi signed up the first batch of chemotherapy specialists who are scheduled to commence training on September 5. Prof Othieno Abinya, a medical oncologist and lecturer at Nairobi University, says the training for the specialists is a two-year programme and aims to improve quality of medical service to patients.
“The course selection was very competitive as several candidates from Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia Uganda and Tanzania applied online but only four candidates were selected,” he says.
Two are from Kenya while South Africa and Uganda got one slot each.Aga Khan University Hospital also launched a new oncology nurse training programme at the beginning of the month. The diploma in oncology nursing offered at the Aga Khan University Hospital is the first in the region. The programme is a public-private partnership between the hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada.Ms Tayreez Mushani, an assistant professor at the Aga Khan University Hospital, says the course was started due to the increasing cancer cases in the region and is based on international standards from the Canadian Association of Nurses in oncology. Training at the Aga Khan University Hospital School of Nursing is a 18-month work-study programme with classes twice a week while at the course at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital is a one year weekly programme. Currently there are 16 students training in Nairobi and 10 students in the Eldoret campus with the entry criteria being eligible nurses who have practised for two years. It is a relief for many patients who would otherwise have to travel abroad seeking medical treatment due to a shortage of oncologists as well as inadequate equipment in a Kenya. Having the trained chemotherapy specialists, frees oncologists to attend to patients and not perform therapy sessions. Another programme sponsored by the East African Development Bank and the British Council to build oncology and neurology capacity in East Africa. The East Africa Medical Training and Fellowship Programme (METAF) has two courses in oncology, and neurology clinical skills open to physicians based in East Africa.
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