‘Men can be diagnosed with breast cancer’
Tell us about the prevalence of cancer in Nigeria?We at the National Cancer Control programme office are working hard to get the data. We are trying to get a data collation centre where central registration can be done, which is what we have been building for the past three years.Amongst the patients, we are creating […]
Tell us about the prevalence of cancer in Nigeria?
We at the National Cancer Control programme office are working hard to get the data. We are trying to get a data collation centre where central registration can be done, which is what we have been building for the past three years.
Amongst the patients, we are creating awareness. We tell people that if they see a lump in any part of their body, they should go to the nearest hospital for check up. That is one way of getting the data.
On the part of the hospital, both state and federal government have been equipping laboratory for the past five years, so we can diagnose cancer.
According to the data we now have, the commonest cancer in Nigeria is breast cancer, followed by cervical cancer, then prostate cancer, leukaemia and ovarian cancer.
Women are mostly affected by cancer, we are not saying cancer does not affect men. Men also develop breast cancer. They have breast so you find breast cancer also in men but not as frequents as you have in women.
Let me say that if anything bad is happening to women in any country its like an emergency. So, we must try and stop it because women are the cradle of any society. The nation depends on the women. So, we cannot allow health issues of women to be neglected. That is why you always hear us talking about breast cancer and cervical cancer and other cancers.
The next worrisome thing is that we also have cancers in children. Some children are born with some cancers like cancer of the kidney and cancer of the retina in the eyes. Some children develop other cancers as they grow, like cancer of the jaw.
Then we are also worried about the albinos. They tend to develop skin cancers from sunlight. In Nigeria, we have the highest concentration of albinos worldwide due to our large population as a black nation. And we are situated near the equator where we have lots of sunlight. But if an albino is living in a temperate environment, they are less likely to develop skin cancer, than if they are here.
What is government doing about the treatment of cancer patients?
Cancer is a very expensive ailment to treat. For cancer, anyone that is going to participate in the treatment of an affected patient most have a second qualification. For instance, if you are a doctor, you must have another qualification and be an oncologist.
Government has established hospitals and provided special equipments for them. It is also paying the salaries of personnel taking care of these patients. With the resources available to this country, it will now be too much for government to treat these patients free. It does not happen in any country. The only way they can provide a respite is through the health insurance scheme and that is what we are doing here in Nigeria.
But NHIS does not cover cancer?
It covers cancer. For instance, if someone has a prescription for chemotherapy drugs, he or she will have other prescription and laboratory test, these ones will be covered but the main treatment will not be. I doubt if there is any Federal Medical Center or Teaching Hospital that cannot offer chemotherapy treatment.
Do we have equipment to diagnose patients in most of these hospitals?
Government has provided radiotherapy machines in about nine teaching hospitals. The issue is most of these equipment are very sensitive. Any power or electrical outage will make it trip off and sometimes break down. They have to be recalibrated before it can start working again. That brings us to another thing, we don’t have many young people ready to be trained as bio-medical engineers. Those are the people we need to take care of these machines.
Do we have all the personnel to handle these machines?
We must train them as a nation because we cannot afford to pay money and get personnel from outside to come and work here. So, we must train them and these individuals must allow themselves to stay long in the school to be trained.
Do you have medical experts that are willing to be trained?
That is why I am talking like this, so people will be willing. For the lab, its not that you will just cut tissue and take to the lab, you will need a histo-pathologist, that is a doctor that will now read for four to five years again after medical school, to qualify as a histo-pathologist. He will not work alone, he will work with a lab scientist, who will help him prepare the tissue so he can now look under the microscope and come up with the diagnosis. Not many doctors want to be histo-pathologist, because they are always in the lab. Nobody knows them.
Are people coming out to be diagnosed for cancer?
We have been working so much on awareness. We have been encouraging and supporting NGOs to create the awareness about cancer. We empower them through technical advice and for some, provide inputs. We produce jingles that tell people what cancer is and not see it as witchcraft.
Can patients afford cancer treatments in Nigeria?
It depends on the pocket size of the patient. Remember, these drugs are not manufactured in the country, they are imported. The companies that manufacture them are not owned by the government, they are privately owned.
What are some of the ways to prevent cancers?
One way to prevent cancers is to go for screening as part of your annual health care routine. If it can be detected early, then they can easily chop it off, treat it or melt it. If not it can grow so fast and become more difficult to treat. People can go to their nearest hospital to be screened and if they are not able to offer the service near you, they will tell you where to go to. When women breastfeed their children for a long time, cancer cells cannot grow in their breast.