Kebbi governor's wife alarms over high cost of cancer treatment

The wife of Kebbi Governor and Founder, Medicaid Cancer Foundation, Dr Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu, has expressed concern over the high cost of radiotherapy for cancer patients in the country.

In an interview on Tuesday in Abuja, Shinkafi-Bagudu, a consultant paediatrician and Director, Union for International Cancer Control, made the observation in an interview.

According to her, a cancer patient pays over a million naira on radiotherapy and the amount is still not enough.

She also said that funds budgeted for cancer diagnosis and treatment in the country were also highly inadequate.

According to her, there should be continuous budgetary allocation for cancer detection, management, and treatment to give hope to patients.

Shinkafi-Bagudu suggested that the National Health Insurance Scheme be strengthened to include people in the informal sector and provide funding for cancer treatment.

"Most Nigerians are in the informal sector, especially those in the rural areas, the farmers, traders and market women.

"Despite the National Health Insurance Scheme in place, it has not been able to ensure all citizens have access to health care services as many die daily of curable ailments, aside from huge medical costs," she stressed.

The consultant said that the shortfall was particularly glaring when it comes to cancer diagnosis and treatment.

She said that every Nigerian deserves health insurance in a bid to achieve Universal Health Coverage.

According to her, some contributory factors for early death and mortality from cancers were challenges with early diagnosis, prompt treatment, and completing the treatment.

Shinkafi-Bagudu said that improvement in the number of cancer patients being managed or cured depended largely on the commitment of the government.

"If the government is committed and serious in ensuring that there is availability and accessibility of cancer diagnostic tools and management, it will go a long way," she said.

The Kebbi governor's wife also said there was need for medical practitioners to adopt global best practices when it comes to management and control of cancer.

"Many Nigerians are on their own when it comes to surviving cancer, thus the need to push the government to take the lead in cancer control through advocacy as obtained in other parts of the world," she added.