Cancer concern: 57357, a number of hope

57357 may be just a number to people outside Egypt. But for Egyptians these digits translate into “hope'' and “care'' for those parents or guardians whose children are suffering from cancer and have limited or no funds to pay for treatment.

Though registered as the Children's Cancer Hospital, 57357 was chosen because of its distinctive appeal and novelty after a media agency hired by the hospital, which was started by a NGO, flashed the digits vividly in its campaign.

Narrating the story to XPRESS over the telephone from Cairo, Myra Doss, member of the hospital's fund-raising team, said, “When the NGO started the medical centre on July 7, 2007, it had to open a bank account to receive funds and donations. So, an employee was sent to the bank and she asked the bank's clerk to provide her an account number with the digits 5 and 7 … so the number 57357 - having two 5s and two 7s - was chosen.''

Paediatric cancers

As unique as its number, 57357 has diagnosed and treated over 2,300 children with paediatric cancers till date from Egypt and the Middle East. “We have received patients from Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and our plan is to provide treatment to children from the African nations too,'' said Doss. “The need for a hospital arose since many parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer could not afford the treatment. Moreover, the facilities here [in Egypt] were not up to the mark as compared with those in the West,'' she said.

A WHO report published in the Global Action Against Cancer 2005 stated that there are over 160,000 children globally diagnosed with cancer annually – with 80 per cent living in the developing countries.

Even the US-based SEER (Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results) reported the probability of developing cancer before the age of 20 was 1 in 300. Therefore, each year it is estimated that there are approximately 8,400 children likely to die of cancer worldwide due to lack of specialised treatment.

Doss said the aim of the hospital was to increase the childhood cancer survival rate in Egypt from less than an estimated 40 per cent to the Western survival rates of 75-80 per cent.

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