Minister Assures On Cancer Treatment Facilities

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that the Federal Government intended to bring cancer treatment facilities closer to Nigerians.

Chukwu said when receiving a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, led by Mrs Mary Villanueva, in Abuja that cancer had not been placed in its proper domain of public health in the country.

He said it was true that cancer was a public problem but that stakeholders in the management had not done enough to bring it to the realm of public health.

He said the ministry had ensure that few experts in the treatment of cancer were spread across the country while awareness creation on the disease was ongoing.

Noting the need for every Nigerian to partner with the government in fighting cancer in the country, the minister said “cancer is a public health issue, the earlier every one of us realises it the better for us’’.

He added that the prevention of the disease must start from public sensitisation to ensure that the public understood what cancer was all about , saying this is when the issue of early detection can be achieved.

The minister expressed the confidence that the ministry would achieve more progress on the control of the disease with adequate support from IAEA.

He, however, pledged that the country was determined to meet the target of the agency, especially in the area of paying its financial obligation.

Speaking earlier, Villanueva said the team was in the country to assess the level of Nigeria’s capacity and determination on cancer treatment to determine the modality of their partnership with the country.

“The purpose of our mission is to assess the level of cancer control capacity in Nigeria.

She said the team had visited health institutions in Ibadan, Lagos, Zaria and Abuja while it was also expected to visit other institutions in the country, including the National Cancer Control Centre.

The visit, according to her, was to identify areas of priority and to suggest the way forward in cancer control in the country.

She added that the team would forward its report and recommendations to the ministry.

Meanwhile, Mrs Patience Osinubi, the Coordinator of Cancer Control Programme in the Federal Ministry of Health, told newsmen that the visit was in fulfillment of the ministry’s technical partnership with the agency.

“If you can recall in 2009, Nigeria paid 2 million dollars to the agency as an initial payment of a larger amount which is about 37.5 million dollars,” Osinubi said.

She said the ministry planned to spread the facilities to the six geopolitical zones in the country.