Citing the sheer cost of cancer medication and therapies, as well as the time treatment takes, a local surgeon says it may be time for a cancer centre to be established in the country.

“We have to consider whether we need to have a cancer centre. We started by having clinics directed towards cancer but we’re [up on] a time that we may need to have an actual cancer centre. And I have no dog in this fight; I have friends on both sides of the pool. I don’t have on no orange, I don’t have on no green, and I tell them the same thing. So whichever party gets into power and their platform is going to be health, that is something that needs to be entertained,” Dr Hugh Anthony Roberts, consultant general at Kingston Public Hospital, said Tuesday at the launch of the 25th Jamaica Reach to Recovery (JR2R) Pink Run at S Hotel in New Kingston.

JR2R President Sandra Samuels, a breast cancer survivor, detailed the purpose of the Pink Run.

“While October sees a surge of pink and increased screening, life tends to return to normal after… However, breast cancer is a 24-7 concern and the need for support is immense,” she said.

One cancer survivor and JR2R member in the room was Nadine Blackwood, who first received a diagnosis in 1998.

She fought the disease until 2002, when she was declared cancer-free. However, Blackwood was shocked in March this year when her second diagnosis came, 27 years after the first.

“I fought the battle and I overcame, and then to my surprise, this year March it came back, but it was detected early so here I am. I am not through this process yet, and I am a proud ‘thriver’,” she said.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness indicates that breast cancer is the most common cancer among Jamaican women. It’s women like Blackwood the Pink Run, under the theme ‘Reaching hearts, restoring hope’, works to assist.

Currently, JR2R not only funds therapy for cancer patients but also donates to their care, with the maximum donation recently increased to $150,000. It also provides prosthetics and specialised bras for women who have had mastectomies.

Source: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/08/27/cancer-centre-needed/