Amman – Compass

At a time when the figures of the World Health Organization speak of shocking figures for the number of cancer deaths around the world, which reached 460,000 people in the Middle East alone every year, while the number of deaths in the whole world reached 20 million people during the year 2021, Jordan is still striving in its footsteps and with successes. sequentially to confront this deadly disease.

“A great work has been accomplished in cooperation between the King Hussein Cancer Center, the Ministry of Health, and Hemtna Foundation. (Samih Darwaza Oncology Department) was opened at Al-Bashir Hospital, where my colleagues and I were honored to be part of this wonderful achievement,” says Deputy Director of King Hussein Cancer Hospital, Dr. Munther Al-Hawarat. accomplished.

Unremitting efforts in the face of difficulties and challenges

“The Compass” interviewed Dr. Munther, about this deadly disease (cancer) and the efforts exerted to confront it Jordanian and international, and the most prominent challenges facing Jordan, Arab countries and the world to reduce the victims of the deadly disease.

Al-Hawarat said in his speech that “cancer is dangerous and is present in the region and the world in a large way, and what distinguishes developed countries from us is that they have well-established rules for dealing with this disease, first, statistical bases and data, second: networking between countries to know the extent of the problem, third: finding sustainable studies significantly on early detection, treatment methods, and patients in the advanced stages in which they receive treatment.”

He continued his speech: The truth of all this does not exist in the Arab region. There is no database in some countries between the governorates, and it is among the countries that do not exist. If you open any site to request the number of patients in a particular country, you will find varying statistics that are not based on a central reference that gives this information.

He added to the conversations by saying: Therefore, all of this makes it difficult to deal with cancer and find a future strategy, because if we do not know the real numbers that we have about the disease, it is not easy to develop a strategy, neither for the number of beds, nor for the number of doctors, nor for the number of nurses, and your plans will remain based largely on wishful thinking and in a manner arbitrary.

He noted that in addition to the fact that the region, at least politically, is unstable and plagued by wars, civil conflicts and foreign interventions.

He expressed his regret that “all this makes attention not focused on the health sector in general, and cancer is part of this sector, and this distracts efforts towards other sources, so that it reduces attention to cancer.”

Comparison and a huge gap between the West and the East

He drew the dialogues by saying: “For example, if we take the percentage of patients surviving from cancer in Western countries, we will find seven out of ten, and this is a large number, while in the Arab region we will find three out of ten. efforts.”

He stressed that the global report talks about 15% of patients who need palliative care, which is an important issue in Jordan and some Arab Gulf countries, and this percentage is for those who receive such care in the Arab region, while the number of those who receive palliative care in the West reaches 80%, This is a big gap.

He stressed that “the treatment of cancer in the Arab region needs sustainable strategies, not momentary plans.”

Jordan is heading in the right direction

Speaking to Al-Bawsala, Al-Hawarat said: Jordan’s situation is much better than the rest of the Arab countries. We have a reliable statistics center and its sources are known, and the National Cancer Center can and can give numbers, and thus it is possible to imagine the expected number of cases within a decade or a decade and a half.

He continued by saying: Second, there are internationally accredited centers such as the King Hussein Cancer Center, the Royal Medical Services Center, the University of Jordan, the Founding King Hospital, and now in Al-Bashir, adding: therefore, patients have the possibility to receive treatment better than others.

He pointed out: “Now, the expectations of Jordan, and in particular the King Hussein Cancer Center, are future expectations that the number of cases will double dramatically over the next decade and a half, and therefore the reality indicates that the number of hospitals and nursing cadres at this stage needs to double, and if we settle at the current number, it will lead us to a significant shortage of cancer treatment.”

Strategic plan and development programs

The dialogues explained that the strategic plans in the country began with finding a sustainable strategic plan to develop the sector related to cancer, in more than one direction, first at the level of medical personnel, there is a “Followship” program and a multifaceted oncology fellowship program at the King Hussein Cancer Center and in many sectors concerned with this matter. It will produce highly qualified and trained cadres of doctors to bear the burden of this disease in an important way during the next stage.

He pointed out that there is training for nursing cadres, and there is an academy that gives nursing graduate degrees in the field of nursing with regard to cancer.

“Also, logistics and computing, which is important in terms of statistics and data collection on cancer, that is important,” he continued.

Research center under construction

The dialogues explained that there is a research center that will be set up at the King Hussein Cancer Center, which will give clear data about the nature of the disease’s development and its progression, during treatment, even if no treatment has taken place.

“All this is true, in addition to re-studying the infrastructure for cancer in Jordanian hospitals, which requires a significant increase in the number of beds and devices involved in diagnosis and treatment.

He expressed his great pride and appreciation that the issue in the Jordanian mind at the political and strategic level is on the list of priorities, and this is a promising matter, that we will not miss time, and we will not miss the cancer train, and we will continue to keep pace with global developments until we achieve the best type of care for our patients.

Al Hussein Center a unique experience

The dialogues also praised the efforts exerted at the King Hussein Cancer Center to combat the disease, stressing that the center is a Jordanian achievement par excellence, which has gone beyond regional to global, and thus has become one of the most prestigious centers in the world, which is referred to in the world.

He continued by saying: Not only at the level of treatment, which is a distinct fact, but at the level of training and qualification of cadres, at the level of research, at the level of data and how to present and deal with it, and at the level of future strategies.

He concluded his conversations by emphasizing that “Al-Hussein Center can now predict the field of cancer for ten or fifteen years in an easy way, because it has serial data that give it clear graphic limits for the percentage and rate of annual increase in cancer, and this, therefore, gives the politician and the strategist in some realistic way. It is the size of the problem in the future and how it can be dealt with rationally and consciously and serve the case of cancer.”

(compass)