Mchengerwa commends ORCI as he graces its board of trustees

DAR ES SALAAM: The Health Minister, Mohamed Mchengerwa, has urged the board of trustees of the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) to ensure that it becomes Africa’s cancer authority due to the presence of people, patients and clinical experience accumulated over several decades.

Minister Mchengerwa said this in Dar es Salaam during a visit and launch of the board of trustees of the Ocean Road Cancer Institute.

Mchengerwa said the city of Dar es Salaam is likely to become a larger one that will carry various challenges and opportunities, so national institutions like ORCI should not be mediocre and instead become Africa’s cancer authority.

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“National institutions cannot be mediocre and even this ORCI must be the authority of Africa when we talk about cancer, with the number of people we have, with the heavy burden of diseases we have and with the experience of the book we have collected over several decades, Tanzania has the right to be a knowledge creator and not just a consumer”, said Minister Mchengerwa.

He said Tanzania has the right to be a leader of the cancer debate in Africa and not a follower, but also to be an interpreter of its data and not to depend on other countries.

“A country that does not maintain its information eventually loses its authority in reality, Tanzania is likely to have more than 100 million people in this context, our institutions like ORCI must be a leader and we have every qualification and reason to lead the cancer debate and not just listen to others and follow”, explained Minister Mchengerwa.