Most cancer patients in Sabah diagnosed at late stages

KOTA KINABALU: Most cancer cases in Sabah are at the late stages with almost 67% of the patients diagnosed at stage three or four.

Dr Ros Suzanna Ahmad Bustamam, who is national head of service for oncology, said Kota Kinabalu recorded the highest number of cancer cases, followed by Sandakan and Tawau.

She said the hospitals in these three districts would receive referrals of cancer patients and the five most common cancers reported were breast, colorectal, lung, lymphoma and cervical.

For males, the most common cancer was colorectal, followed by lung and prostate.

As for women, the common cancers were of the breast, cervical and colorectal, said Dr Ros Suzanna who represents the Health Ministry at the opening of the 34th Annual Scientific Congress of the Malaysian Oncological Society yesterday.

Based on the Sabah Cancer Registry from 2012 to 2016, she said that a total of 8,818 new cancer cases were reported in the state.

Dr Ros Suzanna called for more awareness programmes and initiatives to get people, especially those in rural areas, to go for scheduled health screenings.

Sabah, she said, is a huge area, with 24 government hospitals and eight private hospitals providing healthcare services.

Dr Ros Suzanna said that in the public sector, the regional cancer centre providing oncology services for Sabah is located at the nuclear and radiotherapy medical centre at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas (HWKKS).

KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital and Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu are the two private centres in Sabah providing oncology services.

HWKKS and KPJ Sabah provide radiotherapy services.

In addition to that, a number of government hospitals outside Kota Kinabalu, namely in Tawau, Duchess of Kent Hospital in Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Labuan and Hospital Keningau also provide some oncology services, she added.

Dr Marcus Netto, director of HWKKS, said the main challenges in cancer treatment included insufficient manpower and old equipment.

He said the radiotherapy and other related equipment needed to be updated after 10 or 15 years of use.

Meanwhile, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew spoke of a growing trend in medical tourism in the state.

She said there had been a 20% increase in the number of foreign patients in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period last year.