(By Jet Stanley Madu)
Doctors have renewed the call on the government to make cancer treatment for children free in Lagos recently..
They argued that considering the enormity of the cost, of treating cancer, treatment for children should either be free or heavily subsidised.
They also, called for collaborative efforts from individuals, groups and organisations in the fight against the disease.
On some of the factors that account for the glaring disparity in achieving remarkable success in cure rate, management and reduction in the mortality rate in children cancers, Consultant Pediatric Oncologist, Prof. Edamisan Temiye said the challenges are myriad.
Temiye said Nigeria is a where the lives of citizens are regarded less than some governments regard their domestic birds.
“Unfortunately, in Nigeria, the way government treat her citizens is worse than the way governments in other climes treat fowls.”
He said the target of Children Living with Cancer Foundation, CLWCF, is to have a pool of funds with which to cater for cancer patients and appealed to every Nigerian to be their brother’s keeper.
“We must encourage Nigerians to donate to help cancer victims. Every human being is prone to cancer. It could be Mr. A today and Mr. B tomorrow. If we can to make monthly donation of N1000 to facilitate the treatment and procurement of drugs for all Nigerian kids affected by cancer, fewer lives would be lost.”
Another hurdle experienced in achieving higher cure rate is lack of machines. This problem, he said, has led to samples being sent to South Africa for analysis.
Commenting on the insufficient screening and radiotherapy machines in the country, Temiye decried a situation where hospitals operate with just a single machine.
“There’s no reason a hospital should have one machine. Here, electricity is a big issue. From experience, we know that hospital machines are not supposed to break down. But, with the power challenge, there has to be more than one. So that when one breaks down, the other can be used.”
Speaking on the global theme for this year’s campaign which was tagged Go Gold, convener of the annual Cancer awareness walk, Dr. Nneka Nwobbi lamented the poor response on the anti-cancer campaign.
The expert explained that in identifying with the anti-cancer campaign, even the United States President, Barack Obama, went Gold. She regretted that despite the effort and resources committed to sensitising the populace on cancer burden in Nigeria, majority of its citizenry have refused to come to terms with the reality that children do have cancer.