Professor of Oncology and Radiotherapy at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL)/Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Francis Durosinmi-Etti has revealed that 500,000 new cases of cancers are diagnosed yearly in Nigeria.
Etti further advanced reasons why very few Nigerians survive the scourge, citing lack of basic infrastructure and late report by patients.
He made this known at his inaugural lecture, titled: “That We May Overcome Cancer: The Odyssey of a Radiation Oncologist”in Lagos.
The oncologist wants government to set up a task force to rehabilitate and resuscitate moribund radiotherapy services in country. Also offer tax-free incentives for pharmaceutical industries to make drugs affordable, and include cancer as one of the diseases to be catered for in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Etti said: ”The incidence of cancer is on the rise globally, likewise is global cancer deaths which have been projected to increase from 7.4 million in 2004 to 11.8 million in 2030 with cancer accounting for the highest incidence in global deaths.
“At present, from a world population of six billion, about 10 million cases are diagnosed annually with six million deaths.
“More than half of the cases (56.8 per cent) and cancer deaths (64.9 per cent) in 2012 occurred in less developed regions of the world like Nigeria and these proportions will continue to increase.
“Breast cancer is the commonest female cancer in Nigeria followed by cancer of the cervix with both responsible for almost 50 per cent of all tumours seen in Nigeria while cancer of the prostate (10 per cent) continues to be on the rise in men,” he added.
The Head of Radiology at the Eko Hospitals Lagos, Prof. Kofi Duncan, noted that about 92 per cent of cancer patients report with late stages three and four, when they are already battling death.
