Reps To Investigate National Cancer Control Plan

The House of Representatives is to investigate the failure of the implementation of the National Cancer Control Plan in Nigeria.

The decision was contained in a motion on the matter sponsored by the Chairman House Committee on Information and National Orientation Mr Olusegun Odebunmi from Oyo State.

Leading the debate, Mr Odebunmi noted that despite reforms and policies by the government there has been an increase in the number of cancer cases with a high mortality rate.

He explained that despite the high rate of new cancer cases, there are only Four functional Cancer Treatment Centers, out of the eight in the Country.

Mr Odebunmi stressed the need for the government to implement the plan to enable Nigerians to have access to cancer specialists for proper diagnosis and adequate treatment.

“The House also notes that in 2018, the Federal Government launched the National Cancer Control Plan, which is to be implemented between January 2018 to December 2022 and with proposed budget estimates of N97,321,725,422.53.

“The House is aware that both the Federal and State Governments are required to provide 75% of the funding to implement the plan while Donors and Development Partners will support by bridging the funding gap of 25 percent.

“The House is worried that in 2018 alone, Nigeria recorded an estimated 116,000 new cancer cases with 41,000 mortality and since then, the mortality rate keeps increasing with breast and cervical cancer being the major cause of the mortality cases.

“The House is also worried that despite the increasing rate of new cases, only four out of the eight treatment centers in the country are functional.” Mr Odebunmi explained.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its committees on health care services and health institutions to ascertain the status of all radiotherapy cancer treatment centers in the country and come up with a workable plan to subsidize treatment for cancer patients.