The difficulty caused by cancer and the increasing number of patients in Nigeria is very frightening and requires immediate action to cushion the effect on diagnosed persons.
The cancer scourge, which has claimed many lives due to the financial constraints of affected persons has prompted the House of Representatives to move for free cancer treatment in Nigerian teaching hospitals to reduce the death of patients.
Reports indicate that Nigeria has one of the highest cancer mortality rates in the world with an estimated 72,000 cancer deaths occurring annually and 102,000 new cases diagnosed from its population of 200 million people.
With this development, Rep. Yusuf Badau (APC, Kano) presented a motion of urgent national importance on the need for free cancer treatment in Nigeria saying the difficulty caused by cancer and the increasing number of patients in Nigeria is very frightening and requires immediate action to cushion the effect.
“The devastation caused by cancer disease and the rising number of cancer patients in Nigeria is very alarming and urgent step is needed to cushion the effect on the affected persons of the disease,” he explained.
Rep Badau reiterated that cancer has recorded many death cases recently due to the government not intervening in cancer treatment, which led to challenges witnessed by many affected persons in meeting the financial obligations for the treatment adding that many affected persons are low-income earners dwelling in the rural areas and do not have the financial capacity, awareness to prevent and manage the disease like developed countries.
“This disease has recorded unprecedented cases of deaths in recent times due to lack of government intervention in cancer treatment which resulted in difficulties being experienced by many affected persons in meeting the financial obligation of the treatment.
“The majority of these affected persons are low-income earners mostly in rural communities where there is no or just little fund, awareness on prevention and managing cancer disease in as to other developed Nations of the world,” he added.
He stressed that there is an urgent need for the government to provide the legal framework to ensure free treatment of cancer in all Teaching Hospitals to eradicate or reduce the high rate of death caused by cancer disease in Nigeria.
To combat and effectively manage this deadly disease, the House referred the matter to the Committee of Health Services for further legislative action.