I am now cancer free, president declares

President Jakaya Kikwete has declared that he is a ‘cancer free’ person after he was successfully operated for a tumor in the United States.


 In hour-long remarks after he landed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) from the United States, the president said on 8th November he underwent prostate cancer surgery at the John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

He said the hospital is believed to be the world’s leading consulting hospital on that disease, and it was recommended by US doctors that he should be referred there.

After the surgery, doctors confirmed and told him that he is now a ‘cancer free patient’ since the disease had not spread to other parts of the body, he elaborated.

Dr Kikwete was speaking to various government officials, politicians and journalists who gathered at JNIA during his arrival.

The president said that the doctors who were attending him in the US managed to remove a part of the affected prostate. "The surgery... which lasted for one and a half hours was highly successful,” he stated.

The operation has enabled him to remove heavy burden on his conscience after discovering he had prostate cancer about 13 months ago.

“Before underwent the operation, I had two heavy burdens, one I decided to kept quiet since I noticed I had prostate cancer and second was fear of what would be discovered by doctors after we undergo an operation,” he told the welcoming audience.

Dr Kikwete said he has been doing health checkups annually where for the last six years  health professionals had told him the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test was rising from three to six, which according to health specialists was now a risk situation.

 The PSA test is used to help detect prostate cancer and other prostate abnormalities.

“After conducting PSA tests it was discovered that the number of the PSA reactive cells was less than four out of ten and according to doctor’s definition when it rises above four this mean a problem exists, and if it will continues to grow up to six and beyond in the 0-10 scale it increasingly indicates that there are signs of cancer,” he said.

“After conducting tests in various US hospitals two out of 14 cells had cancer elements so we decided to undergo prostate surgery as several hospitals proposed that the level of cancer had reached the second stage,” he explained.

During the meeting, the president was not ready to speak about the ongoing Escrow account report debate saying that the matter had not reached his hands but he promised to issue a statement after he receives the reports.

“Today I will not talk about Dodoma debates as I have not seen the reports but when I get them I will talk,” he said he was closing the meeting.

He also announced the cancellation of visits to various regions scheduled in the next few months as doctors directed him to rest for three months so as to properly recover.

The president similarly urged members of the public to take up the habit of periodical health checks as one grows older, since men who have reached the age of 40 are prone to beginnings of ailments like prostate tumors, a disease that causes numerous deaths.

He said health reports shows that cervical cancer causes 25 percent of deaths followed by breast cancer which stood at 13 percent and prostate cancer causes by 7.9 percent of deaths.

According to various reports, many Heads of State have been suffering from prostate cancer. On September 02 2011, the UK based Mail on-line reported that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has prostate cancer and could be dead within two years, on the basis of WikiLeaks cables.

US diplomatic cables asserted that the 87 year-old leader was diagnosed with prostate cancer and warned by doctors in 2008 that he had only five years to live.

 President Mugabe’s battle with the disease was divulged to James McGee, the former US Ambassador to Harare, by Dr Gideon Gono, then governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank, during a private meeting in June 2008.

The late Mobutu Sese Seko, then president of then Zaire, died in exile in Morocco of prostate cancer on 7 September 1997.

Many world leaders have been diagnosed as having prostate cancer including former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos who in October 2012 announced he had prostate cancer and was to have surgery.

The then 61 years Santos was quoted saying the tumour has been detected early and estimates his chances of recovery at 97percent.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela also suffered from the same disease, reports indicate.