Iraqi Cancer Council details government achievements to prevent and eradicate the disease

Baghdad - INA

 The Ministry of Health detailed Today, Thursday, its achievements in preventing and eliminating cancer, while it highlighted the most important achievement of the Oncology Treatment Center in Iraq during the past years.

The Secretary-General of the Iraqi Cancer Council, Tahseen Al-Rubaie, said during the second scientific conference of the Cancer Council, which was attended by the correspondent of the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The Minister of Health, Saleh Al-Hasnawi, ordered this year that the theme of the conference be prevention, and we have started in various fields related to prevention, including health education through social media, in addition to educating many programs with public health,” noting that “our cancer registry is launched on the National Cancer Day, as cancer registry in Iraq sometimes took two years to complete.”

He added, "This year we completed 2023 and it was printed and today it will be launched under the patronage of the Minister and with his approval, and copies will be distributed among members of the Health and Environment Committee and members of the Ministry of Planning and others," indicating that "what distinguishes these two years, such as the annual report, is our compliance with the standards of the International Agency, the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency in terms of taking into account all previous errors that occurred in previous reports, as they were completed and the reports became approved by ( WHO )."

He explained that "the annual evaluation of the early detection program for the year 2023 has been completed, and that the percentage of all women examined is  93 % of the specified target, within the strategic plan to reach 10% , which is one of the most important cancer control projects for the years from 2022 to 2025," noting that "the centers that have been established and rehabilitated are not only in Salah al-Din, but are also located in the Medical City recently, where the first device has been approved and now the ministry is in the process of contracting for it, in addition to rehabilitating the Medical City with 2 modern devices, and Al-Sayyab Hospital in Basra, where the treatment devices have been rehabilitated and made compatible with modern technologies, and Imam Al-Sadiq Hospital in Hillah, which will be the fastest achiever of the Oncology Treatment Center in Iraq during all the past years, as it has reached very advanced stages, and we hope that it will be opened at the beginning of the first or second month of next year." 

He continued: “The Wasit Center was opened and we have the Al-Jawad Center in the Al-Imamain Al-Kadhimiya Hospital, which contains two devices from the Farin Company, and now the two devices are working on a full shift system so that the center can treat about fifty to sixty patients, in addition to the Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, which was always absent and the center in it was weak and simple due to the circumstances and because of what was available, and it was rehabilitated into a very advanced, clean and tidy center that contains all services.”

Al-Rubaie explained that “the total number of oncology centers is 43 centers throughout Iraq, and 51 accelerators. In 2008 and 2009, the first two accelerators were opened in Al-Amal Hospital, and today there are about 51 accelerators, including in the Kurdistan Region.” He pointed out that “10 clinics have been established for early detection of cervical cancer, and not only have these clinics been established, but the protocol for cervical examination has been approved.” 

He explained that "the protocols for cancer diseases in Iraq have been completed to be in line with the approved medicines in the Medicines Selection Committee," noting that "the important event was hosting the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, to intensify the support provided in the field of cancer treatment within the framework of the plan that the agency created for its Rays of Hope initiative, and coordination was made to return the management of the programs provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and to benefit from them in the form of devices in Al-Amal Hospital as well as in the Kurdistan Region."

He added that "the Minister of Health directed to look at international companies in the form of Patnasef, so there was the first real agreement with AstraZeneca, which has so far provided training opportunities for new doctors, in addition to providing a milestone in terms of social media and social networking sites, and also at the same time the development of early detection of lung cancer by agreeing with doctors to implement it and by equipping some centers with a device that works with artificial intelligence technology.