‘CANCER KILLS 80,000 NIGERIANS YEARLY’

An estimated 80,000 Nigerians die of cancer yearly, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bassey Dan-Abia has reported.
To this end, federal lawmakers have passed for second reading a Bill in the House seeking the establishment of a National Cancer Institute. The Bill was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Health for further legislative inputs.
The Bill entitled: ” A Bill for an Act to provide for the prevention, treatment and control of cancer in Nigeria and for connected purposes” was sponsored by Dan-Abia (Akwa Ibom/PDP).
The lawmaker who led debates on the general principles of the Bill stated that urgent steps was needed to contain the disease which has decimated “the mighty, the upright, the not so honest as well as the lowly in the society”.
His words: “An estimated 80,000 cancer related death occur in Nigeria every year and 10 Nigerians die every hour. The death rate of some common cancers in Nigeria is alarming; 30 Nigerian women die everyday from breast cancer; a Nigerian woman dies every hour from cervical cancer; 8,900 Nigerians die from liver cancer every year; prostrate cancer kills 14 nigerian men everyday and every two hours a Nigerian dies from colorectal cancer.”
He listed poorly distributed clinical services, few centres with functional radiotherapy equipment, surgeons with limited clinical experience in oncology and expensive radiologic services as some of the challenges bedevilling cancer treatment in the country.
Dan-Abia said the situation had forced Nigerians to seek medical services in India.
In detail, the functions of the proposed cancer institute according to draft Bill comprises:
“Encourage and secure the establishment of hospitals, vocational treatment and care centres and other institutions for the welfare and treatment of persons with cancer in all states of the federation.
“Encourage and secure provision of diagnostic, treatment, rehabilitation and other medical care to persons with cancer in those institutions.
“Co-ordinate services provided in Nigeria for the welfare and treatment of persons with cancer and to implement programmes. For vocational guidance and counselling.
“Collect, analyse and disseminate all data useful in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer;
“Collaborate with international institutions for the purpose of collecting for the Register and cataloguing, storing and disseminating the results of cancer research undertaken in any country for the use of any person involved in cancer research in any country.”
Culled from Leadership