Algeria plans cancer treatment centres

2009-11-04

The Ministry of Health has unveiled a project to build 14 cancer treatment centres to help treat the staggering number of Algerians diagnosed with the disease each year.

By Walid Ramzi for Magharebia in Algiers – 04/11/09

[Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images] Minister of Health Said Barkat recently announced that Algeria will construct more than a dozen new cancer treatment centres.

Algeria is stepping up its efforts to fight cancer, announcing last week that it will build a national cancer institute in Oran and an additional 14 cancer treatment centres throughout the country.

"The Oran institute will begin operating in 2011, and other treatment centres will be completed by 2012," Minister of Health Said Barkat announced in Parliament on October 25th. The new strategy will increase Algeria's total number of cancer treatment locations to 17.

The Ministry of Health estimates that 30,000 to 35,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed each year, with 80% of patients diagnosed in the late stages of the disease.

Of these numbers, an estimated 13,000 Algerians must wait for up to a year for treatment, due to the incapacity of the handful of existing cancer treatment locations to meet this growing need.

"Each time, I find it difficult to get an appointment for the next round of chemotherapy," said Ahmed, a 52-year-old suffering from lung cancer. "If it weren't for some friends I know at the hospital, I would have waited for months before I could receive therapy."

Ahmed said he had seen many people denied treatment because of what he called a shortage of hospitals and treatment clinics.

Other patients complain of the difficulty in procuring medications to ease their pain. Said, 37, is battling larynx cancer, and said hospitals face a "lack of pain-killers". When he does receive medications, he added, the supply only lasts for a week.

"I have to put up with the pain, especially on weekends, because hospitals are closed and there's no way to get a hold of my medications," he said.

Cancer specialists say Algeria must adopt a more aggressive cancer-fighting strategy.

"Opening new treatment locations is not sufficient," said the head of the Algerian Association of Cancer Patients, Dr. Kamal Bouzid. "The treatment itself must be organised better, which would make it possible to monitor [patients'] progress, whether they're at home or elsewhere."

"This strategy needs to be assessed after a number of years, which does not happen in Algeria," he added.

"The national cancer strategy should go beyond treating existing cases," said the head of the Algerian Association of Respiratory Diseases, Dr. Ameur Soltane. He said cancer prevention strategies must be encouraged, starting with discouraging smoking.

"Smoking starts at a very early age, which points to new cases [of lung cancer] in the future, since the impact of smoking takes 30 years to show," said the doctor.