The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to providing succour for people suffering from breast cancer, while it has also provided screening equipment that are geared towards the prevention of the disease in the country.
This was made known recently at the inauguration of the Radiotherapy Centre at the National Hospital, Abuja.
A statement signed by the health ministry’s Director, Media and Public Relations, Mrs. Boade Akinola, noted that the centre, which was declared open by the wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, had been equipped with a new Multileave Linear Accelerator machine for cancer treatment.
Speaking at the commissioning, Mrs. Osinbajo lauded the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Health and that of the hospital management for making the facility a reality.
She described the deaths of Nigerian women due to breast cancer as “unimaginable,” noting that the Buhari administration would ensure delivery of qualitative health care in the country.
“I look forward to a day that the cure for breast cancer shall finally come; but I am delighted that despite limited resources, the country is taking giant strides in the right direction.
“With the installation of the machine, there is hope for cancer patients, as they will be helped with the facility,” she said.
It was gathered that in late 2016, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, paid a working visit to the hospital to assess the state of infrastructure, during which he discovered that a brand new radiotherapy machine was actually purchased and supplied in 2013, but it was left uninstalled.
Adewole said part of the challenges was the hospital’s inability to construct a bunker where the machine would be installed.
“My ministry fast-tracked the construction of two bunkers instead of a single unit that was intended, as these would accommodate more than one radiotherapy machines as time goes on.
“We also replaced the non-functional components of the equipment, did the upgrading, the increment in bandwidth capacity and eventual installation of the radiotherapy machine.
“The ministry also saw to the training of medical staff in South Africa,” Adewole said.
He decried what he described as “the decay” in medical infrastructure inherited by the Buhari administration, “especially in terms of equipment, logistics and foreign relations with international partners.”
He explained that based on the review of international atomic energy of all countries conducted in 2013, only South Africa and Egypt have the material capability of treating and managing cancer, assuring Nigerians of government’s commitment to the upgrading of seven other cancer centres, as captured in the ministry’s 2018 budget.
