Increased penile cancer cases worry Ndola urologist

Increased penile cancer cases worry Ndola urologist

Ndola, Jan 27/15 ZANIS –A Urologist at Ndola Central Hospital has expressed concern over the increase of cases of cancer of the penis the hospital is receiving.

Kasonde Bowa said penile cancer is mainly caused by the Human Pappiloma Virus (HPV), lack of circumcision, geographical locations and it was very common in low income communities.

“Penile cancer is a disease that affects the penis which starts between the head and the shaft of the penis. One of the reasons we see patients coming very late is the foreskin that hides the sore because it lies in the region between the head and the shaft,” Prof Bowa said.

 Prof Bowa who is also Dean of Students in the School of Medicine at The Copperbelt University, noted that the affected ages are between 25 and 45years unlike some time back where only people in the 60s were affected.

He noted that penile cancer, which is the third most common cancer, is not known by many in society, saying not even some medical practitioners who mistakenly treat it as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) are aware of it.

“The hospital receives about three to four cases per week and the patients that we receive are mostly between 25 and 45 years.

“I am appealing to my fellow health workers to watch out for STIs that do not heal after treating them for longer periods to refer such cases to specialists as they might be wrongly treating patients for STIs when in fact it is cancer of the penis,” he said.

Prof Bowa has since urged men to go for male circumcision as it is the best way to prevent the infectious disease.

He also encouraged women to marry only circumcised younger men as a way of encouraging them to go for male circumcision.

Prof Bowa said penile cancer is curable if it is reported early.

He has since appealed to all stakeholders to ensure that information about penile cancer is disseminated to prevent more infections.

Professor Kasonde Bowa says penile cancer is mainly caused by the Human Pappiloma Virus (HPV), lack of circumcision, geographical locations and low income communities.

And Sister in- Charge at the male surgical ward, Prospellina Zimba, explained that penile cancer has resulted in  many wives divorcing their husbands as they find it hard to accept the situation their spouses find themselves in.

She further narrated that nurses do all they can to counsel women how to live with husbands whose manhood is amputated but  most of them respond negatively  to the advice and end up abandoning their husbands.

One of the patients, Samuel Kabaso, said his wife complained after she heard that her husband’s manhood would be amputated.

“My wife was very sad after the doctor told her that my reproductive organ would be removed as it overstayed without proper medication and she has never been happy ever since,” Mr Kabaso recalled.