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FG To Establish Six Cancer Clinics In Nigeria
The National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) is currently focused on establishing a cancer preventive clinic in each of the country’s six geopolitical zones.
The Federal Government announced this through the Director General of the institute, Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, during a recent one-day retreat for health journalists held in Abuja in partnership with the International Society of Media in Public Health (ISMPH).
In his remark at the event, Prof. Aliyu expressed concern over the lack of facilities dedicated to cancer screening in Nigeria, emphasizing that the designated tertiary hospitals for the preventive clinics will be equipped with trained health professionals and essential equipment such as mammography and ultrasound machines.
He said, “With the establishment of these screening clinics, we intend to have places where people could walk in and be attended to by physicians purely for screening and preventive services.”
The agency’s focus on establishing the six new preventive cancer clinics underscores the importance of prevention in addressing cancer concerns, as stated by him.
Aliyu stressed the agency’s collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to enhance the capacity of healthcare workers to deliver cancer services at the primary healthcare level.
Furthermore, the NICRAT DG highlighted the agency’s efforts in setting up a centralized national cancer registry to enhance data management for cancer-related information in the country.
