I am reintroducing the letter I wrote some years ago and it is my fervent hope that the Solomon Islands will soon be provided with the modern health facility promised by one of its development partners, and I hope too there will be much better attention to primary health care throughout the country.
I shudder to think what the mortality rate is today at the NRH from cancer, given what Dr. Soma mentioned in the original statement he made some years back.
Quote.
We have been told by Dr. Soma the Oncologist specialist at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) that upwards of 200 to 300 people are dying each year at the NRH from cervical cancer, breast cancer, mouth cancer, and thyroid cancer.
Dr. Soma didn’t mention lung cancer when he spoke during the recent World Cancer Day event in Honiara, but it is probably safe to assume there are lung cancer deaths and also deaths occurring from liver disease at the NRH each year.
I would again urge women to undergo regular checks provided by the NRH to detect any early signs of cervical cancer and breast cancer and to reduce the risks associated with the disease.
Likewise, reducing alcohol consumption and reducing or stopping smoking would lower the risks that are known to contribute to cancer deaths.
When it comes to mouth cancer and throat cancer, it is widely known that the chewing of betel nuts is a primary cause of the disease.
Prevention is better than a cure, but so often we avoid doing the things that we know can lead to ill-health and diseases and which takes away lives, often unnecessarily.
When a person dies from cancer how many others are affected by that person’s passing? There are fathers, mothers, daughter’s sons, friends, work colleagues, and wantoks all affected with loss and grief. Often family life is never the same again.
Do, please, take care of your health and welfare by following the sound advice so often repeated by health professionals.
One death from preventable cancer is too many.
End of quote.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
