The Federal Government has designated six federal tertiary hospitals as Oncology centres of excellence.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Ayotunde Adesugba, Director Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Health, and made available in Abuja.It said that the policy was taken in collaboration with the Cancer Education and Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria (CEAFON) and ROCHE Products Limited.
The statement said the designated hospitals to be upgraded are one from each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
The hospitals are Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, (North West), University Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri (North East) and UCH (South West).
Others are UTH Benin (South South), University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu (South East) and ABU Teaching Hospital, Zaria.
The statement quoted Mr Linus Awute, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, as saying that the upgrade will be done in line with the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
According to him, the PPP is the best legacy of the health ministry and an important strategy for addressing the challenge of non-communicable diseases and cancer care in particular.
The statement said that the ministry will seek further collaboration with private sector practitioners like Roche on the Nigeria National Cervical Cancer Screening Scale up project.
The statement also quoted the Country Manager, Roche Products Ltd, Herman Addae, as saying that cancer is a leading cause of death; however, enough attention is not given to it.
He said cancer became a major killer disease due to the unavailability of data, lack of enough medical specialists, poor funding and inadequate sensitisation, among others.
The country manager enumerated intended possible areas of intervention to include training of healthcare professionals, provision of infrastructure, access to therapy and establishment of a Health Journalist Academy.
