PHOTO: Dr. Benedict Kolee
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
Monrovia- A trained Liberian Pathologist and Oncologist who benefitted from the Merck Foundation beneficiary of Cancer Program, Dr. Benedict Kolee has disclosed that the lack of Diagnosis Capability is the main factor hampering the treatment of cancer in Liberia.
He has also attributed the high increase in the Cancer rate to lack of awareness about the disease.
He said Cancer is one of those non communicable diseases that is not related to infectious diseases but it is leading cause of millions of people lives around the world and it has over taken Malaria, HIV/AIDS among others.
Dr. Kolee was speaking in an interview with www.newspublictrust.com on the sidelines of a program marking World Cancer Day, February 4, 2021, at his John F. Kennedy Medical Center office in the Sinkor suburb on Thursday.
Some of the causes of cancer are Tobacco, environmental factor, global warming and sun heating among other things.
But Dr. Kolee said what is most important is that people around the world are now living longer with cancer. Life expectancy is 57 to 58 for women, while men are 60, Dr. Kolee added.
According to the Liberian Oncologist, Dr. Kolee, he is not fully using the knowledge acquired from India through Merck foundation cancer program due to what he described as lack of Diagnosis Capability.
He said this is because he is not currently doing Molecular Chemistry and other things that he learned during his studies in India.
Silver lining
But what he can clearly boast of, Dr. Kolee noted is that during his one-year studies in India, he got massive exposure to lots of things, which have taken his skills in the medical field from five to eleven.
Besides, he said he happens to be the only Doctor trained in the Republic of Liberia trained in handling the cancer disease.
The Merck Foundation-trained Oncologist further said that another nightmare seriously hindering the work of practitioners in the area of cancer treatment in Liberia is limited resources available.
As a result, Dr. Kolee said they are unable to do full diagnosis of cancer in the country.
Both the government of Liberia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) were able to train Dr. Kolee and Dr. Zobond in pathology, but Dr. Kolee told this news outlet that the primary goal for which they were trained is to do forensic work.
But as it stands now, Dr. Kolee said 24 hours around the clock, he is doing more work for cancer than forensic work.
“It was a very eye opening experience for me during my stay in India through the Merck Foundation Oncology or cancer, because they have superior diagnosis capability, especially the molecular aspect.
This is where you will look at cancer and fix treatment for it without causing the patient havoc,” Dr. Kolee told this news outlet.
Explaining his situation, Dr. Kolee said there are limited resources in Liberia to treat cancer patients, and not many of the patients are willing to pay even if diagnostic equipment are brought in, when majority of Liberian can’t afford daily meal in the midst of economic crisis.
So he is currently limited to only doing the primary and secondary prevention.
“The primary prevention is where you don’t have cancer but you should continue to do your cancer check or test to know your status. In this case there can be 100% survivors,” the Liberian medical specialist explained.
While, the secondary prevention is where you already have but detect it from the early stage and in this 85-90 can survive.
Also the tertiary prevention is a stage where people have been overcome by the cancer before going to hospital for checkup, when it is very late for their survival. So in this case, the survivors sometimes live for five years or less, Dr. Kolee told www.newspublictrust,com .
One can get cancer through genetic and acquired means.
The Liberia trained pathologist and oncologist said due to the lack of massive awareness, people usually go to traditional herbalists or church when they have cancer rather than going to the hospital for checkup or treatment.
He maintained that even though he is not doubting the work of God because God is the Chief medical doctor for all, but people should take advantage of go to hospital first.
Take advantage of screening
Meanwhile, Dr. Kolee has called on everyone to take advantage of the screening process, because they are fighting for the survivors of those who have cancer. He then extended his sympathy to the families of those who have died from cancer, both in Liberia and around the world.
Merck Foundation has trained several doctors both in Liberia and the rest of the African countries in various studies like specialists in fertility specialist, diabetes cancer, among other areas.