President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday unveiled a facility for cancer treatment that will enable up to one million patients in the country to access vital medication.

The President unveiled the Equinox Radiotherapy machine, which would be the third one in the country. The International Atomic Energe Agence (IAEA) donated the machine to the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam.

The Institute is the country´s only cancer hospital with radiation therapy capabilities, and is already struggling to cope with an influx of 3,000 new patients and up to 10,000 follow-up visits a year - figures which will increase dramatically as early detection techniques improve.

Radiotherapy is a valuable tool for the curative treatment of cancer.

President Kikwete thanked the IAEA for the donation saying the machine would boost the government's efforts to put more needy patients on medication at early stages of cancer attacks.

Although cancer can be treated, many people have succumbed to the disease due to late detection. Treatment of the disease is also costly and many cannot afford it.

Health and Community Welfare deputy minister Dr Aisha Kigoda said Tanzania is registering at least 35,000 cancer patients every year. She said the commonest types of cancer were breast, neck and womb.

More than 80 per cent of the patients, according to Dr Kigoda, do not get treatment and end up dying in their homes. This was despite that womb and breast cancers could be easily detected and treated at early stages.

President Kikwete said he was concerned about the number of people dying of cancer in the country. He also said the majority did not seek treatment at hospitals because they lacked awareness of the disease.

As a result, he said, the Government would launch a countrywide cancer awareness campaign to provide education on the causes, symptoms and treatment of the disease.

Under the programme, the President also said, more health workers will be trained to lead an early cancer identification process while four referral hospitals, including Muhimbili National Hospital and Mbeya Hospital, will be provided with radiotherapy machines for the treatment of the disease.