Local Radiotherapy Cancer Treatment Begins Next Year

LUSAKA, Apr. 28 - Local radiotherapy cancer treatment will begin by June next year, University Teaching Hospital (UTH) managing director Tackson Lambart has said.

Dr Lambart said this in an interview in Lusaka yesterday before he presented a paper on how cancer patients were managed in Zambia.

He said radiotherapy cancer treatment, the first of its kind in Zambia, would be carried out once the cancer hospital currently still under construction, was completed.

Construction is expected to be completed by February next year.

He said four doctors from the institution had been sent to South Africa for specialised training in cancer treatment.

Dr Lambart said offering cancer treatment locally would save Zambians the cost of travelling abroad for treatment.

And visiting cancer expert from South Africa Professor Vic Levin said Zambia would be among the few African countries with their own cancer treatment centres.

He said that radiotherapy cancer treatment had been used for over 100 years and its introduction to the country was an important move as it would also make the treatment available to the poor.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) representative Ken Shortt said the project was financed through a US$ 6 million loan from the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The IAEA would also help the cancer diseases hospital in terms of training.

Source: The Times of Zambia / allAfrica Global Media