The Coordinating Minister of Well being and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, has mentioned three main most cancers amenities with tools investments might be inaugurated by Might 2025.
Pate made this identified on Monday when he appeared on Channels Tv’s Dawn Day by day monitored by our correspondent.
He mentioned, “For the primary time in Nigeria’s historical past, six main most cancers infrastructure, and tools investments have been permitted by Mr President (President Bola Tinubu) early final yr, of which they’re already underway, and three of them might be prepared by Might 2025, to be inaugurated. Nigeria has by no means had it.
“For individuals who are affected by most cancers, that’s the excessive stage of care that’s wanted; it’s a tertiary service. We can have the linear accelerators, the brachytherapy, and different diagnostic tools to permit them to afford good high quality most cancers care in Nigeria in these six amenities.”
The minister famous that the federal government additionally flagged off 10 different main most cancers diagnostic centres throughout the nation 5 months in the past.
He acknowledged that 201 tertiary amenities have had infrastructural upgrades and tools, together with the Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan, Computed Tomography scans, and anaesthesia tools within the final one yr.
“We’re going to do extra in 2025, however the human assets and the coaching of that is also an necessary aspect; that goes past the first well being care, and the Federal Authorities is investing in it.
“We now have expanded the federal amenities. Within the final one yr, the Federal Medical Centre, Epe, in Lagos, (there’s a) new one in Ekiti, and the President simply permitted a brand new Federal Educating Hospital in Akure, Federal Medical Centre in Southern Kaduna, in Kafanchan. (There’s an) improve of hospitals in Nasarawa, the specialist hospital in Keffi is now a instructing hospital, and the Federal College of Well being Sciences, Azare, has a instructing hospital, which was upgraded by this President.
“So we’re increasing the tertiary hospitals’ capability in Nigeria as a result of, for a really very long time, the capability that we had after we have been 150 million folks is actually what we nonetheless have after we are about 230 million folks. So, we’re increasing that, it’s not sufficient, however we have to try this.”
In keeping with information from the International Most cancers Observatory, there have been 127,763 new most cancers instances and 79,542 deaths in 2022.
For each sexes, the info confirmed that breast most cancers led the chart with an estimated 32,278 instances (25.3 per cent); adopted by prostate most cancers with 18,019 instances (14.1 per cent); cervical most cancers with 13,676 (10.7 per cent); colorectum most cancers with 8,114 (6.4 per cent); Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma most cancers 5,194 (4.1 per cent); and others 50,482 (39.5 per cent).
In 2023, the Director Basic of the Nationwide Institute for Most cancers Analysis and Therapy, Prof Usman Aliyu, mentioned statistics point out that an estimated 78,000 folks died because of cancer-related problems in 2020.
Out of this quantity, 44,699 have been females, whereas 34,200 have been males, and it’s estimated that there are over 120,000 new most cancers instances yearly in Nigeria.