200-Bed Cancer Hospital Opens In Kabul Soon: Sharafat

KABUL (Pajhwok): Coinciding with World Cancer Day, the Ministry of Public health (MoPH) has talked about the increase in the number of people suffering from cancer and said that a 200-bed Cancer Hospital would be put into operation in Kabul soon.

World Cancer Day is celebrated every year on February 4th in most countries around the world, including Afghanistan.

Surge in number of cancer patients in Afghanistan and world

Dr. Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for the country's Ministry of Public Health, said in an Audio recording that cancer cases have increased worldwide and have also increased in Afghanistan.

He said, without providing details, that last year nearly 6,000 new cancer cases were registered in the ministry.

Previously, another 42,000 people who had previously been diagnosed with cancer or who had just been diagnosed with the disease had visited health centers .

Establishing special cancer health centers

Dr. Sharafat said that the ministry was working on a 200-bed hospital in Kabul to treat cancer patients, which will be put into operation soon.

He said that the ministry also planned to establish cancer treatment centers at the regional level, and a 50-bed hospital would begin operating in Nangarhar province in the near future.

He said that to prevent the spread of this disease, public awareness programs have been increased and work has been done to increase the capacity of health workers, especially doctors, in this sector .

Immunotherapy or boosting patients' immune systems

World Cancer Day is celebrated at a time when millions of people worldwide lose their lives to this disease every year. However, recently, the Science Direct news site published an article titled“Innovations in Cancer Immunotherapy: A Comprehensive Review of Recent Advances and Future Directions” and reported on new treatment methods for this disease.

The source wrote that the discovery of immunotherapies in the world, for a wide range of cancers, has revolutionized cancer treatment methods. Despite relapse or resistant disease, immunotherapy methods can increase the life expectancy of cancer patients.

According to the source, through immunotherapy, which is a treatment method, the body's defense system is used to fight diseases, including cancer, with the aim of increasing the body's ability to identify and destroy cancer cells

The report states that there are several ways to perform immunotherapy, including boosting the immune system, administering cancer vaccines that stimulate the immune system to recognize cancer cells, and monoclonal antibodies that attack cancer cells or introduce signs of cancer cells to the immune system.

Immunotherapy is an effective method, we use some parts of it to treat our patients: Physicians .

Dr. Ahmad Javed Zarang, an internal medicine specialist and oncologist at the National Cancer Control Program at Jamhuriyat Hospital in Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News:“Immunotherapy is one of the new treatments that has emerged in the cancer field. We are adapting some parts of this treatment for our patients.”

He considered this treatment method effective in controlling cancer, but added that this treatment is currently not possible in some other parts of Afghanistan because diagnostic facilities are less

Dr. Syed Farid Shah Rafiei, a general internal medicine specialist at Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul, said that immunotherapy is one of the new and effective treatment methods that should be used in Afghanistan to treat cancer patients.

nh

MENAFN04022025000174011037ID1109167760