From a Professor of Oncology and Radiotherapy at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL)/Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Francis Durosinmi-Etti, yesterday came a startling revelation that 500,000 new cases of cancers are diagnosed yearly in Nigeria.
Speaking at his inaugural lecture, titled: “That We May Overcome Cancer: The Odyssey of a Radiation Oncologist”in Lagos, Durosinmi-Etti further advanced reasons why very few Nigerians survive the scourge, citing lack of basic infrastructure and late report by patients.
To address the menace, the oncologist wants government to set up a taskforce to rehabilitate and resuscitate moribund radiotherapy services in country, offer tax-free incentives for pharmaceutical industries to make drugs affordable, and include cancer as one of the diseases to be catered for in National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Durosinmi – Etti, who is also the Chairman of the National Consultative Committee on Cancer Control (NCCCC) charged with the formulation of a national cancer management and control policy for Nigeria under the Federal Ministry of Health, said diagnosed cases rose from 100,000 in 1999 to 500,000 in 2015 across the federation.
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