Namibian Oncology Centre

Last updated

Namibian Oncology Centre
Namibian Oncology Centre
Namibia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Geography
Location Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia
Coordinates 22°32′40″S17°03′45″E / 22.54444°S 17.06250°E / -22.54444; 17.06250
Organisation
Care system Private
Type Cancer Treatment, Research and Rehabilitation
Affiliated university Spitz Healthcare Investments
Services
Beds12
History
OpenedJuly 2015;9 years ago (2015-07)
Links
Website https://www.namoncology.com/
Other links List of hospitals in Namibia
Healthcare in Namibia

Namibian Oncology Centre (NOC), also Namibia Oncology Centre, is a private, specialized, tertiary care medical facility. The facility offers radiotherapy since July 2015 and oncology pharmacy together with chemotherapy since November 2015. [1]

Contents

Location

The centre maintains three locations, two in the capital city of Windhoek and one in Swakopmund. The detailed locations are as follows: [2]

Overview

NOC is a privately owned cancer treatment, rehabilitation and research center, owned by Spitz Healthcare Investments, a Windhoek-based healthcare investment fund. The centre began serving the public with laboratory, pharmacy, radiation, chemotherapy, and oncology rehabilitative services in 2015. Before that, patients who needed radiation, had to travel to South Africa to receive those services. The center's digital linear accelerator, is the first in the country and also serves private patients referred from neighboring countries, including Angola. [3] As of 2016, the cancer centre maintained a private in-patient ward with 12 beds. [4]

Background

Namibia is a Southern African country, with a population of about 3 million as of 2024. [5] The most prevalent cancers in Namibia as of 2016 were (1) Skin cancer (2) Kaposi's sarcoma, which is HIV/AIDS related (3) Breast cancer (4) Prostate cancer (5) Cervical cancer and (6) Oral cavity cancer, in that order. [4]

NOC was established in 2015, to complement and relieve the Dr AB May Cancer Treatment Centre at Windhoek Central Hospital, the largest public hospital in the country. It is also intended to reduce the increasing number of private patients in Namibia seeking oncology services in neighboring South Africa. [4]

Staff

As of 2016, NOC employed about 30 staff members, including oncologists, nurses, physicians and therapists. [4] In 2019, the cancer centre recruited Dr. Lillian Gesami-Steytler, the first paediatric oncologist in the country, who also works as a consultant paediatric oncologist at the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Windhoek. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

A radiation oncologist is a specialist physician who uses ionizing radiation in the treatment of cancer. Radiation oncology is one of the three primary specialties, the other two being surgical and medical oncology, involved in the treatment of cancer. Radiation can be given as a curative modality, either alone or in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy. It may also be used palliatively, to relieve symptoms in patients with incurable cancers. A radiation oncologist may also use radiation to treat some benign diseases, including benign tumors. In some countries, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are controlled by a single oncologist who is a "clinical oncologist". Radiation oncologists work closely with other physicians such as surgical oncologists, interventional radiologists, internal medicine subspecialists, and medical oncologists, as well as medical physicists and technicians as part of the multi-disciplinary cancer team. Radiation oncologists undergo four years of oncology-specific training whereas oncologists who deliver chemotherapy have two years of additional training in cancer care during fellowship after internal medicine residency in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swakopmund</span> City in Erongo, Namibia

Swakopmund is a city on the coast of western Namibia, 352 km (219 mi) west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. It has 75,921 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proton therapy</span> Medical procedure

In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy nearby tissues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netcare</span> South African health care company

Netcare Limited is a South African private healthcare company. It operates through a number of subsidiaries and employs just over 21 000 people.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) is a cancer centre with locations in Lahore and Peshawar, Pakistan. SKMCH&RC Lahore was the first project of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, the second one being SKMCH&RC Peshawar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram</span> Medical research centre in India

The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) at Thiruvananthapuram is a cancer care hospital and research centre. RCC was established in 1981 by the Government of Kerala and the Government of India. It is located in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College campus in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the state of Kerala. It was established as an expansion of the Radiation Therapy / Radiotherapy department of Medical College Trivandrum. It is a tertiary care center for the managements of all types of cancers. The clinics are mainly on Haematology, Lymphoreticular, soft tissue, bone, head and neck, breast, CNS, gynaecological, urinary, chest, gastro, paediatric oncology and thyroid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oncology</span> Branch of medicine dealing with, or specializing in, cancer

Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (ónkos), meaning "tumor", "volume" or "mass". Oncology is concerned with:

Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) is a public, specialized, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health. It is designated as East Africa's Centre of Excellence in Oncology. In collaboration with Makerere University College of Health Sciences, UCI plans to start offering master's degrees, doctoral programs and post-doctoral fellowships in oncology care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust</span> UK public sector healthcare provider

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is an NHS Foundation Trust, which specialises in the treatment of cancer. The centre is one of several specialist hospitals located within Merseyside; alongside Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Women's Hospital, and the Walton Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pramod Kumar Julka</span>

Pramod Kumar Julka, is an Indian cancer specialist (oncologist), medical educationist and writer, known for performing the first peripheral blood stem cell transplant following high dose chemotherapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer in India. He was honoured by the Government of India, in 2013, by bestowing on him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the fields of medicine and medical education. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has awarded him by bestowing on him the honorary membership.

The Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (KIRAN) is a cancer hospital in Karachi, Pakistan under the administrative control of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. KIRAN is one of nineteen medical centers in Pakistan providing patients access to diagnostic and treatment facilities either free of charge or at subsidized rates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farrer Park Hospital</span> Hospital in Connexion, Singapore

Farrer Park Hospital is a private tertiary healthcare institution in Farrer Park, Singapore. Located above the Farrer Park MRT station at the Connexion building, the hospital has a capacity of 220 beds across four inpatient suites and 18 operating theaters including major surgery, cardiovascular and endoscopic suites. It is interconnected with the Farrer Park Medical Centre, where there are 10 floors of suites for over 200 medical specialists, as well as One Farrer Hotel.

Oncocare Cancer Treatment Centre is a cancer treatment clinic in Harare. Founded in 2016, Oncocare offers radiation treatment, chemotherapy and treatment support, and has a specialist cancer retail pharmacy. Its equipment includes the only digital linear accelerator in Zimbabwe. Oncocare is the only private medical institution in the country exclusively treating cancer.

Catherine Naliaka Nyongesa Watta, is a Kenyan physician and radiation oncologist, who is the founder, owner and chief executive of Texas Cancer Centre, in Nairobi, the capital and largest city in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Kalumbi Shangula, announced on 14 March 2020 that the virus had reached Namibia. A Romanian couple constituted the two first cases and recovered 79 days after their initial diagnosis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project</span>

The UK Coronavirus Cancer Programme or UKCCP is one of the longest running UK pandemic research programmes to safeguard, monitor and protect individuals living with cancer from COVID-19 across the United Kingdom.

Metronomic therapy is a new type of chemotherapy in which anti-cancer drugs are administered in a lower dose than the maximum tolerated dose repetitively over a long period to treat cancers with fewer side effects. Metronomic therapy is shown to affect both tumor microenvironment and tumor cells to achieve its therapeutic effects. Metronomic therapy is also cost-effective as a lower dose is used compared to conventional chemotherapy. The use of metronomic therapy has been extensively investigated and can be advantageous in selected group of patients. Yet, more clinical trials are necessary to generalize the method.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre</span> Hospital in Rajasthan, India

The Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (BMCHRC) is located in Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is also popularly known as BMCHRC. The hospital is NABH and NABL accredited super speciality cancer treatment centre. The hospital is following international protocol for cancer treatment managed by K.G. Kothari Memorial Trust. The centre is committed to providing comprehensive care along with prevention and research in cancer.

The Nsambya Hospital Cancer Center (NHCC), also Rotary–Centenary Bank Cancer Center, is a private, faith-based, specialized, tertiary care medical facility, under construction in Uganda. When completed as expected, the center will offer radiotherapy, chemotherapy, oncology pharmacy, cancer rehabilitation and undergraduate and postgraduate oncology medical and nursing education starting in 2027.

References

  1. Namibia Economist (12 February 2016). "Oncology Centre Offers Cutting Edge Cancer Treatment". Namibia Economist . Windhoek, Namibia. Retrieved 17 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 NOC (20 August 2024). "Location of the Offices of Namibian Oncology Centre". Namibian Oncology Centre (NOC). Windhoek, Namibia. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  3. ACHEST (22 June 2015). "State of the art cancer treatment available in Namibia". African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (ACHEST). Kampala, Uganda. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 The Namibian (10 February 2016). "Cancer Care … Namibia Oncology Centre". The Namibian . Windhoek, Namibia. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  5. CIA (20 August 2024). "The World Factbook: Namibia Summary". Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Langley, Virginia, United States. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  6. NEN (16 January 2019). "First Paediatric Oncologist For Namibia". New Era (NEN). Windhoek, Namibia. Retrieved 20 August 2024.