Experts Decry Low Cancer Care In Nigeria

• To Build N10B Comprehensive Cancer Centre In P’Harcourt. 

AS Nigeria joins the world to mark World Cancer Day today, experts have decried low level of cancer care in the country.

The experts who spoke in Lagos said unless something meaningful was done to curb high cancer morbidity and mortality rate, the aliment would continue to claim the lives of high profile and poor Nigerians.

However, to make a difference, the experts who spoke under the aegis of the National Cancer Prevention Programme (NCPP) of the Mass Medical Mission (MMM), announced a partnership with the Lulu-Briggs Foundation to build N10 billion comprehensive cancer centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Briefing journalists in Lagos yesterday, MMM National Coordinator, Dr. Kin J-Egwuonwu, said  the need for such comprehensive cancer in Nigeria could  not be overemphasized as the disease has become one of the leading causes of deaths in the country.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths globally.

On February 4 each year, WHO supports the International Union Against Cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer with emphasis on preventing cancer and raising quality of life for cancer patients as recurring themes .

The ailment is said to affect 100,000 Nigerians, causing 80,000 deaths yearly in the country which currently lacks comprehensive cancer centres and experts to help those in need of care.

This has forced many Nigerians to travel to India and other countries to access care, a situation that has seen the country losing many of its elites to the disease due to late diagnosis and care.

Executive Director of Lulu-Briggs Foundation, Mrs. Seinye Lulu-Briggs decried the present situation where Nigeria has no single comprehensive cancer centre while a country like India boasts of over 120 of such centres.

The centre, to be developed in five phases, is to be located on 50 hectares of land close to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) with the completion date of the first being 2013.

The centre is expected to have modern cancer care facilities such as positron emission tomography (PET) scan, which is a unique type of imaging test that helps doctors see how the organs and tissues inside patients are functioning.

Egwuonwu said locating the centre in the oil rich city of Port Harcourt was important owing to environmental challenges ranging from gas flaring, oil spillage, industrial pollution all of which are risk factors  for cancer  in the hydrocarbon-based  economy of the Niger Delta.