Initiative to benefit countries tremendously

A PROJECT between a Toronto-based children’s hospital and six countries in the Caribbean is expected to improve the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric cancers across the region, and see the establishment of patient registries for children with cancer and blood disorders in each of the participating countries.

Speaking with The Grenada Advocate recently, Ted Garrard, President and CEO of SickKids Foundation, explained that the SickKids-Caribbean Paediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Initiative, known as The SickKids Caribbean Initiative, which is being led by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, one of the leading hospitals in the world, is aimed at improving the survival rates of regional children with cancer.

He made the disclosure while referring to the establishment of the Shaw Family Telemedicine Room, launched at the Clinical Skills Building of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, last week.

The SickKids Foundation President explained that when the needs assessment was conducted to determine the gaps in the region, among the major challenges was the absence of a central patient registry system within each country to map the extent of childhood cancers.

He pointed out that as a result of this deficit, none of the participating countries had statistics on how many children were being treated for cancer, what kinds of cancer they were being treated for, or what were their health outcomes.

Additionally, Garrard said a lack of trained medical personnel throughout the region was also a cause for concern. “[…] In Jamaica, a country of three million people, they have no paediatric oncologist, and there is only one paediatric oncologist in Trinidad and Tobago. So there is a need to develop more trained personnel, and not just doctors, but also nurses, lab technicians and the like.

“There is also the opportunity to link together our team of professionals at SickKids with the medical professionals that are in each of these countries by having telemedicine capabilities, where they could video conference around difficult cases and our experts can give advice to local experts,” he said.

The Foundation President added, “The survival rates in the six countries we are dealing with – The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago – we believe is around 50 per cent, and in Canada it is 85 per cent for children. So, this five-year initiative, we believe, will help to dramatically improve the health outcomes of those children who are diagnosed with cancer.”

Training vital

With that in mind, Garrard explained that improving the survival rate for children with cancer will be dependent on how many persons they are able to train, to what extent the diagnostic capabilities are improved, as well as to what extent the telemedicine facilities are used effectively. As such, he noted that they have not set a particular target for the survival rate.

The SickKids Foundation official said that they are moving full steam ahead to train a strong cadre of doctors and medical professionals, to ensure not only the success of the initiative, but the countries’ success in treating the conditions beyond the five-year period. (JRT)