Cancer patients will soon beam with smiles this year if the Federal Government stays on track with its plans for new sets of radiotherapy machines and centres, according to sources who spoke with BDSUNDAY.
Radiotherapy, also known as radiation therapy, is part of cancer treatment which aims to control or kill malignant cells through linear accelerators.
Some cancer patients undergo chemotherapy, which is another type of treatment for the sickness that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs in treatment.
“In healthcare, by January 15, 2019, we are commissioning cancer care centres at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) as part of private-public partnership programme and we are also commissioning diagnostic centres in Kano and Umuahia,” Uche Orji, managing director and CEO, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), said on AriseTV.
Orji said opportunities are being wasted in the country as people still go to Ghana for cancer screening, which can be done locally.
“This is the 13th phase of the project across the healthcare in Nigeria. What we are doing is not social responsibility but commercial investment. So we are expecting to make about 8-12 percent profit in healthcare,” Orji said.
“At the moment, it is owned by NSIA and in seven years we will earn our return and over time transfer it to LUTH,” he explained.
Isaac Adewole, health minister, said last year that the National Hospital Abuja received a new cancer machine bought in 2018, which was undergoing installation and calibration.
BDSUNDAY checks show that construction work is going on at the Oncology Department in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, which will accommodate three new linear accelerators for cancer treatment and another for radiotherapy. A source at the hospital said that the project would be ready soon.
Cancer is responsible for the deaths of 72,000 Nigerians yearly, according to Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA)’s 2019 research. Only four out of 11 radiotherapy machines in Nigeria are functional.
Cancer is sometimes a result of lifestyle, diet, age, alcohol, chronic inflammation, and hormonal changes, among others.
Francis Abayomi Durosinmi-Etti, consultant, clinical oncologist and chairman of National Programme on Cancer Management, said in a recent interview that many cancer centres were being planned for places such as Epe, Lagos; Ibadan, Oyo State, and Ogun, among others.
“Government is aware of the need of cancer care and is trying to increase the number of machines and facilities for treating cancer, including training of staff. With all on-going projects, in the next two to three years, the situation of cancer treatment would have been a lot better than it is now,” Durosinmi-Etti said.
A review of the budgetary provision for 2019 shows that N780 million is for the establishment of chemotherapy centres. The nine benefitting tertiary hospitals will be University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri, and FMC in Abeokuta.
“This will help deal with all the different aspects of the prevention, early detection, accurate diagnosis, treatment and palliative care that are important,” said Chukwumere Nwogu, a cancer epidemiologist, thoracic surgical oncologist and chief executive officer, Lakeshore Cancer Centre.
Experts say that the cost of cancer treatment is high, which is why patients need urgent assistance. Durosinmi-Etti said a configured linear accelerator costs about $4 million and if accelerators, accessories, stimulators and the treatment planning system are added, it will go as high as $5 million, depending on the type of model and year of manufacture of the machine.
“I know at the National Hospital, with the least equipment to treat a patient, the minimum you pay is about N600,000 ($1,666), but it is cheaper if you compare it with getting the treatment in Ghana,” he noted.
Durosinmi-Etti said that cancer treatment in Ghana costs about $10,000-$20,000 minimum; in India about $25,000, and about $40,000 in America.
“So if you look at that, the cost compared to the N600,000 being paid at the National Hospital in Abuja, I think is a fair deal,” he said.
Durosinmi-Etti said cancer treatment has always been expensive for the patients and their families and was yet to be covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
“If the country finds a means of getting the money, whether through the NHIS or even some other means of support, then patients can get treatment at a proper price and also service will be kept going,” he said.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
