The Federal Government have announced a plan to build six new cancer treatment centres in six tertiary healthcare facilities in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed in Abuja, on Monday, at a World Cancer Day Symposium with the theme: “Economy, Tax and Cancer Control: The Exit of Pharmaceutical Companies from Nigeria” organized by Project Pink Blue.
Alausa said, the cancer treatment centres would be built in the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaira; Federal Tertiary Hospital, Katsina; University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin; University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Jos; and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos
Alausa further disclosed that the treatment centre was evenly allocated to the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria to enable improved and quick access to cancer response and treatment.
He said that N20bn has 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 N20bn to build the cancer centres because the value has dropped significantly.
“We had to make a presentation to the President and the National Assembly to give us additional budgetary allocation to build the six cancer centres. We have gotten the additional funding that we need. The groundbreaking will happen in the next few weeks.”
“If you go to any advanced democratic nation, the biggest chunk of any operating cost to run a business is personnel, we have it in abundance in Nigeria, at a very reasonable and cheap rate.
“These pharmaceutical companies left because we have pharmaceutical laws. There’s a NAFDAC policy of 5+5, after you have marketed drugs for five years, they are expected to dominate.
“We have to change this narrative of companies leaving our country because of the difficulty of doing business, that’s not correct. Let’s face the fact, Nigeria is endowed with an abundance of manpower.
