Georgetown: Guyana has all the modalities to treat and detect the different types of cancer, but the average Guyanese can hardly afford to utilise them, according to Dr Raveendranath Raghuram, a representative of the Cancer Institute Guyana (CIG).
He noted that Guyana facilitates surgeries, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone therapy at both private and public institutions, but the cost for these are very high.
“We have experienced surgeons at GPHC [Georgetown Public Hospital] and private sectors performing surgery, chemotherapy could be given at Cancer Institute or GPHC and at Cancer Institute; we are having the state-of-art radiation therapy linear accelerator (Linac) machine to treat the cancer with high dose x-ray beams. Hormone therapy is using medicines, patients buy them at drug stores and some hormone therapy medicines; for example Tamoxifen is available at GPHC and given free to breast cancer patients.”
The major expenses of a cancer patient includes costs for diagnosis and treatment in hospital, clinic visits, medicines, tests and procedures, home health services, and services of doctors and other professionals such as counsellors. This can be burdensome on patients.
The average Guyanese cannot afford to spend that much. If the average Guyanese pours all their money into cancer treatment, then they may be neglecting other critical aspects of life such as food, clothing and shelter.
“Cancer treatment is expensive because these high-end machines are huge investments and need high maintenance by highly qualified engineers specialised in this field and each one of them require periodic check up and quality assurance daily, monthly, quarterly and annually,” Dr Raghuram said.
Assistance
On the other hand, there are several organisations and initiatives in Guyana that financially assist persons living with cancer.
For example, there is the Health Ministry and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), which pay a share of the cost for treatment of patients.
There is also the Periwinkle Cancer Club, which recently received a generous donation from Junior Chambers International (JCI), to assist them with their creditable work.
The Periwinkle Cancer Club provides food hampers and other assistance to persons who are terminally-ill. Club representative Andrea Joseph said the money they received from JCI will most likely go towards assisting two young cancer patients ages 10 and 13.
Dr Raghuram said Guyanese cancer patients get adequate help in this regard. He noted that surgery is done free of cost at the Georgetown Public Hospital and the costs of services such as CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) are subsidised for patients.
However, Dr Raghuram said that much more has to be done for patients living with cancer.
“Cancer patients in Guyana need support from the Government, Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and all other organisations to live their life to fullest extent.”
He highlighted that cancer patients need expensive treatment, not only at the initial stage, but for the rest of their lives, especially if they are to continue living life to the fullest.
“Also they need the support of family and friends during this difficult hour of their life, rehabilitation and proper support at workplace, psychological support to help them to fight this dreaded disease; more so a national comprehensive cancer policy.”
The Cancer Institute of Guyana offers pap smear for cervical cancer, mammogram, ultrasound and Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) for breast cancer, Clinical Direct Rectal Examination (DRE) and Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) testing for prostatic cancer, among others.
Speaking with Guyana Times, Dr Raghuram mentioned that the screening is quite affordable with prices starting from just $4000 for breast examinations.
He is urging everyone, especially men, to put pride aside and get tested for the sake of their lives.
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