OAU Don Calls For Affordable Cancer Treatment, Improved Healthcare Funding

The Head of the Department of Surgery, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Professor Olusegun Alatise, has called on stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector to take urgent steps to reduce the cost of cancer treatment in the country.

Alatise also urged increased investment in the health sector, saying improved funding, infrastructure and access to modern medical facilities would help curb medical tourism and strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to provide quality cancer care.

He made the call at the 12th Annual International Oncology Symposium organised by the African Research Group for Oncology in partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York.

The two-day symposium, held at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, had the theme: “New Frontiers in Cancer Care: Leveraging AI, Precision Medicine and Innovative Research in Africa.”

Speaking on the objectives of the symposium, Alatise, who is the convener, said the programme was designed to expose medical practitioners to current developments and advanced approaches in cancer management and treatment.

According to him, sustained collaboration among health professionals, researchers and institutions was essential to improving cancer outcomes and ensuring that patients in Nigeria had access to modern and affordable treatment.

Also speaking, Professor Peter Kingham of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, said the symposium provided an opportunity for medical practitioners from different disciplines to learn new techniques and approaches to the management of cancer patients.

Kingham particularly stressed the importance of deploying artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies in the diagnosis and treatment of breast and cervical cancers in Nigeria.

He said the integration of modern technologies into cancer care could improve early detection, treatment planning and patient outcomes.

Similarly, a pathologist and pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Professor Fatimah Abdulkareem, said Nigeria possessed the expertise and human resources required to make significant progress in cancer prevention and treatment.

Abdulkareem noted that several advances and treatment modalities were now available, offering cancer patients better prospects for improved health and wellbeing.

She, however, stressed the need for the country to strengthen its health systems and ensure that available expertise and innovations translated into accessible and affordable care for patients.

The symposium brought together surgeons, medical doctors, oncologists, gynaecologists, pathologists, radiologists, nurses, researchers and academics from universities and teaching hospitals in Nigeria and the United States to deliberate on emerging trends and innovations in cancer care.