Cancer Fund: 1,500 Indigent Cancer Patients Registered In 6 Pilot Hospitals

Minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has said over 1,500 indigent cancer patients have so far registered in the six pilot hospitals accessing the Cancer Health Fund with over 400 patients already receiving treatment.

The Cancer Health Fund was created by a private-sector-led coalition. The Fund is aimed at providing cancer treatment to indigent Nigerians and strengthening the national cancer care.

The minister, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the 2022 International Cancer Week, with the theme: “Bridging the Cancer Care Gap: Improving Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Management”, in Abuja,  said that the government was  taking steps to expand the Cancer Health Fund to additional six centres in order to improve access to the Fund nationwide and to make it as close to the people as possible.

He said through the Cancer Access Partnership (CAP) Programme, over 2, 000 cancer  patients were already enrolled in 17 hospitals with additional six hospitals at the final stages of activation within this year.

“We are also taking steps to make the Fund available for more cancers especially in children instead of limiting it to the cancers of breast, cervix and prostate,” he said.

Ehanire, however, identified diagnosis as one of the major challenges in the oncology practice in the country due to paucity of pathology specialists and limited capacity for immunohistochemistry and other specialized investigations.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, said every year, Africa records around 1.1 million new cases of cancer, resulting in up to 700,000 deaths.