Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, has revealed that three out of the six major cancer health facilities approved will be commissioned in May.
Prof. Pate disclosed this on Monday during Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, stating that six major cancer health facilities, equipped with advanced technology, were approved by President Bola Tinubu last year, marking a first of its kind.
“So that those who are suffering from cancer, that is the high level of care that is needed, it is a tertiary service. We will have the linear accelerators, the brachytherapy, and other diagnostic equipment to allow them to afford good quality cancer care in Nigeria in those six facilities,” Prof Pate said.
He further mentioned that about 10 additional major cancer diagnostic centers were launched across the country five months ago by the Federal Government.
According to Prof Pate noted that in the past 201 tertiary facilities have undergone infrastructural upgrades and received new equipment, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, Computed Tomography (CT) scanners, and anesthesia machines.
We are going to do more in 2025, but the human resources and the training of that also is an important element; that goes beyond the primary health care, and the Federal Government is investing in it.”
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While recounting their achievements, he said “We have expanded the federal facilities. In the last year, the Federal Medical Centre, Epe, in Lagos, (there is a) new one in Ekiti, and the President just approved a new Federal Teaching Hospital in Akure, Federal Medical Centre in Southern Kaduna, in Kafanchan.”
“(There is an) upgrade of hospitals in Nasarawa, the specialist hospital in Keffi is now a teaching hospital, and the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, has a teaching hospital, which was upgraded by this President.”
Additionally, he noted, “So we are expanding the tertiary hospitals’ capacity in Nigeria because, for a very long time, the capacity that we had when we were 150 million people is literally what we still have when we are about 230 million people. So, we’re expanding that, it’s not enough, but we need to do that.”
