Rose Mestika
12 May 2008
Addis Ababa — A cornerstone laying ceremony for the construction of what is to be the first ever such hospital was held on Saturday at Sheno town, Oromia regional state in the presence of FDRE President Girma Woldegiorgis.
Speaking on the occasion, President Girma said the hospital, the fourth hospital in the continent will be able to give service not only for Ethiopians but also for neighbouring countries as well.
The hospital is seen as a great opportunity for foreign currency, and will create a significant number of jobs for Ethiopian professionals.
The founder of Life's Second Chance, Wosene Bowler said :"We take a significant step toward accomplishing our ultimate goal of better 'Health security'; we begin by building a pathway to better cancer presentation, screenings, quick diagnosis, state of the art treatments, highest quality hospice and after-care".
She added that the hospital will attract the best doctors, technicians and medical staff from around the world.
She said, the hospital will play a key role in curbing the problem of brain drain of medical professionals by offering better prospects which she said would hopefully keep the best Ethiopian doctors at home.
Brain drain, particularly of medical doctors, is said to cost the country dearly.
According to the Ethiopia Ministry of Health, Black Lion hospital was the only hospital that treats cancer and less than 1% patients get the medication.
Sheno Referral Hospital will begin with a 500 patients-per-day-basis before it would upgrade the number to 1000, according to the current plan of the project.
Minster of Health Tewdros Adhanom who attended the ground breaking ceremony observed that it was a great relief to have the "biggest and the first cancer hospital in our land." "Also I would like to thank and appreciate the dedication of the founder Wosene Bowler for the success of her project," he said.
The residents of the town jubilated expressing their happiness over the soon to be constructed hospital and blessed the founder for her holy deeds.
Scheduled to be completed by 2011, the hospital is to rest on a 68-hectare plot of land.
The founder of the hospital is a cancer survivor and lived in the US for several years before she decided to come home and help compatriots suffering from the disease.
Cancer kills twice the number of people than HIV/AIDS in Africa.
In Ethiopia 65,000-115,000 new cancer cases are reported each year, increasing by 5% every year
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