The Federal Government has disclosed plans to build six new cancer treatment centres in six tertiary healthcare facilities across the country within the span of three years.
Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made this known on Monday, February 5, 2023, while speaking at a World Cancer Day Symposium held in Abuja.
Dr. Alausa informed that the centres would be built in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; Federal Tertiary Hospital, Katsina; University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin; University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Jos; and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos.
He said these centres were strategically placed in the six geopolitical zones, aiming to enhance accessibility and prompt cancer response and treatment.
He further informed that N20 billion had been secured for the construction of the cancer centres within the next three years.
“Sadly, the value of the money has depreciated because of the rising inflation. There is no way we could use the N20 billion to build the cancer centres because the value has dropped significantly.
“We had to make presentation to the President and the National Assembly to give us additional budgetary allocation to build the six cancer centres”, he said.
The Minister hinted that additional funding had been approved and the groundbreaking would happen in the next few weeks.
On his part, the Director-General, Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), Dr. Yau Idris, stressed the need for the government to prioritise healthcare in the country.
He said: “Looking at the case of Nigeria, we have only 14 radiotherapy centres in the country, nine of them belong to the government, only five of them belong to private, and only six of them are licensed by the NNRA, which means the others are not safe.
“In terms of equipment, Nigeria has only seven Linacs (Linear accelerators), for a population of 200 million people. South Africa has 92, and Egypt has 76.”
