Cancer patients need health insurance, radiologists tell govt – Punch Newspapers

Radiologists have called on the governments at all levels to tackle the menace of cancer in the country by organising health insurance schemes for cancer patients.

The Head of Radiotherapy Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital Cancer Centre, Dr Muhammad Habeeb, made this call during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

According to him, the rate of cancer has been recorded to be higher in low and middle-income countries, hence the need for strategic programmes to combat it.

He said, “Cancer is different from all other types of disease because cancer can spread to distant organs, so for example, if you see a patient with bone cancer, and they say after some time it has spread to the lungs. It can spread through the bloodstream and this is called metastasis.

“The management of cancer worldwide is very expensive, but in some parts of the world, patients do not pay because they have health insurance schemes. So if the government can organise a health insurance scheme for the populace, they will be able to access treatment of cancer more and at the same time, we will have more facilities, because there would be a pool of funds for this purpose. It is very important for us to be able to get an insurance scheme for cancer patients so they can have access to treatment.”

A clinical and radiation Oncologist, Dr Adeoluwa Adeniji, during an interview with our correspondent, explained the steps required for the government to take in order to effectively tackle cancer in the country.

He said, “There are certain steps that are needed for the government to take. First, there is a need for infrastructure, equipment, and comprehensive cancer centres. We only have two centres, now we have a third one coming onboard in the whole of the country. Looking at the population of Nigeria and the number of cancer patients in the country, it is clear that we need at least one comprehensive cancer centre in each of the 36 states.

“Second, there is a need for training that will produce specialists or teams. We need the government to set up training schools and fund the teaching hospitals and bring in equipment for training and encourage collaborations with countries where these specialists are quite enough so that more of them will be available for our people.”

“Third, there is an urgent need for funding in healthcare insurance. This cannot be overemphasised. Many cancer patients in Nigeria are suffering because they cannot afford standard care for their ailments.”

The government needs to fund cancer treatment such that any of its patient can have complete care without the fear of a financial handicap.

“There should also be health insurance for regular cancer screening programmes because if there is no screening it means the ailment will emerge into an advanced stage and that is the situation with most cancer patients in Nigeria.