The Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), a premier centre of excellence in cancer care in India and Merck Foundation, a not for profit organisation of pharmaceutical major Merck have joined hands to train African oncologists to fill gap in cancer care in African countries.

An MoU has been signed between TMC and Merck Foundation in this regard. So far 28 oncologists from 17 African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, Liberia, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Guinea have been enrolled for training at TMC starting from 2016. Of 28 oncologists, 9 have been trained, 10 are undergoing training and rest will join training from August 2018.

A total of 50 oncologists from African continent will get training at TMC over the next couple of years. This will improve access to quality and equitable cancer care in Africa facing dearth of oncologists.

The Merck Africa Oncology Fellowship Programme initiated by Merck Foundation facilitates training of future African oncologists at TMC. The programme aims to increase the number of qualified oncologists across the African continent. It will last over next five years.

The scarcity of trained healthcare personnel capable of tackling prevention, early diagnosis and management of cancer is a bigger challenge in Africa, and therefore, we firmly believe that initiatives contributing to build medical capacity such as the Merck Africa Oncology Fellowship Program are very critical for African countries having a high prevalence of breast, cervical and prostate cancer, said Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation.

The fellowship program is also conducted at the University of Nairobi with the aim to improve access to cancer care in Africa.

The year long training is imparted to the oncologists at TMC for free but their travel and accomodation expense are borne by Merck Foundation. On completion of training programme, the oncologists are able to treat patients in their respective country. The one year fellowship programme is followed by year long mentorship programme where newly trained oncologists will be guided by TMC doctors in cancer care through Tumour Board and Disease Management Board, Multidisciplinary Disease Management where surgeon oncologist, pathologist, radiotherapist etc delibrate cancer cases and decide the best possible treatment for patients.

There are limited number of oncologists in Africa, hence improve the cancer care across the African continent.

Countries like Gambia, Liberia, Gini, Ceylon lack oncologists and cancer centres. Zambia has six oncologists for 15 million population. Ethiopia has three oncologists for 100 million population. The government of African countries are ready to build the cancer care facilities but lack of professional skills is the key challenge there, said Dr Kelej.

Prof K S Sharma, Director (Academics), TMC said “The TMC and Merck Foundation's collaboration in the field of academics will effectively enhance the capabilities to prevent, detect and treat the rising cases of cancer in African countries. TMC is expanding the cancer care centres in more states like Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Assam which will help us train more doctors, nurses, and technicians from low and middle-income countries.”