Some concerned Nigerians have undertaken to establish the first comprehensive cancer prevention, treatment, research and training institute in the country.
The project, which will be located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, is expected to cost N10billion (about $63 million) and is scheduled to be launched on March 31, 2012 with a presidential banquet. It is planned that the first phase would be completed within one year, with the project admitting the first set of cancer patients in February 2013.
According to reports, about 100,000 Nigerians are affected with cancer out of which 80,000 die annually.
The cancer scourge is also the world’s most expensive illness, with a global economic toll of about $895 billion in 2008, equivalent to 1.5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).
A growing number of Nigerian patients travel abroad (especially to India) for cancer treatment every year, expending scarce foreign exchange and suffering removal from native land and loved ones.
Also, the many more Nigerians who suffer from cancer and cannot afford the cost of foreign travel and treatment, can have hope of quality treatment locally when the said facility takes off.
The promoters of the initiative, O. B. Lulu-Briggs and wife, Seinye, will mobilise the support of other partners and sponsors within and outside Nigeria, BusinessDay learnt.
Known as the Port Harcourt Cancer (Comprehensive Care) Centre or PHCC, the centre is to be situated on 50 hectares of land, close to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).
Over 10,000 volunteer advocates from all walks of life have already been registered, while about 5,000 individual and corporate donor partners have been selected to provide financial backing for the initiative. Several venues have been chosen for pre-launch advocacy campaigns, while the induction of the first batch of volunteers would hold at the main auditorium of the Rivers State University of Technology, Port Harcourt, on World Cancer Day, February 4. There will also be a massive international grassroots campaign on the internet, using web-based social media.
Cancer, no doubt, is a killer disease that has claimed so many lives in many countries of the world, including Nigeria. The lack of adequate facilities has made treatment in Nigeria insufficient for sufferers, especially the underprivileged.
According to reports, about 100,000 Nigerians are affected with cancer out of which 80,000 die annually.
The cancer scourge is also the world’s most expensive illness, with a global economic toll of about $895 billion in 2008, equivalent to 1.5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). World Cancer Day, which holds February 4 every year, is an occasion to unite the world in the fight against the disease, through raising awareness, educating the public, and lobbying for change.
