Men’s cancer group calls for urgent action on radiotherapy

Men with prostate cancer are being forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to access lifesaving radiotherapy overseas, as the island’s only linear accelerator remains unused, a cancer advocate said Thursday as they urged the government to act with urgency to provide treatment and end what they described as a growing crisis for patients and their families.

The newly established Men’s Cancer Support Group’s interim coordinator, Vincent Yearwood, said the lack of readily available cancer treatment on the island is putting men’s lives at risk, imposing significant financial burdens on families and forcing patients to seek costly treatment overseas.

“The problem with the radiation therapy is that it is costly, then you have to go overseas,” he told Barbados TODAY. “It’s travel costs, accommodation costs to be added to the actual cost of the treatment itself. On average, most of the men I know incurred about $70 000 for a treatment. The average person doesn’t have that money, obviously.”

He noted that while some patients benefit from government-funded treatment in countries such as Colombia and Trinidad, being placed on a waiting list can jeopardise their health.

He said: “I understand that the government does fund some people to go to Colombia, and Trinidad as well, but that means you’re on a list, and while you’re waiting the situation could be deteriorating. We really need to get back to where the treatment should be available in Barbados so that people could deal with it expeditiously.”

Yearwood recalled his own experience receiving treatment in Trinidad, where several Barbadians called him, desperately seeking information on the help they need.

He explained: “When I give them give the costs, they [said] will have to reevaluate it and they never called back. Obviously they didn’t have the funds to deal with it. Fortuitously, I had insurance and insurance assisted, but even in that case, I had to rely on family to provide money at particular point in time. It’s really a strain for the average person.”

So far in 2024, five members of the Men’s Cancer Support Group have had to travel to Trinidad for care, highlighting the urgent need for a solution. The group is now seeking a meeting with the Ministry of Health to discuss how to fast-track access to treatment and improve support for cancer patients.

Yearwood’s concerns echo those recently expressed by Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw — herself a cancer survivor — who in a House of Assembly debate last month called for the commissioning of a linear accelerator acquired for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

“We have people dying while waiting. This can’t continue,” Bradshaw declared during debate on a resolution to lease state land at Coverley for a new palliative care facility. “It cannot be that the equipment is sitting there and not being used while people are desperate for treatment. There has to be a sense of urgency.”

A linear accelerator uses electricity to generate high-energy beams of X-rays or electrons, commonly used for cancer treatment. One was procured by the government at a cost of approximately $10 million and was delivered last year.

In response to inquiries from Barbados TODAY, QEH communications specialist Shane Sealy confirmed that installation is on track for completion by September.

Sealy said: “It has been touted for a few months now [and] the linear accelerator is in the process of being installed. So, once that is installed by, August, September, we will be in a position to facilitate a lot more cancer treatment here. Until then, we have been sending, people abroad. Yes Trinidad has been included, but, other territories as well to get the necessary treatment through our social services department.”

He added that the training for personnel had already started: “Persons have been already, in that process of training both on the medical side as well as the engineering technical side. So that is already, part of this process so that once that is installed that we can really hit the ground running.”

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb