FG to construct 10 cancer centres this year

From left: Chief Olu Akinkugbe, Gov Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Prof. Wole Soyinka, during the Lecture on Cancerous Life-styles, Between Dogmatism and Fatalism, to commemorate cancer awareness week 2012, organise by African Cancer Center, held in Lagos.

THE Federal Government, yesterday, said it would construct 10 new cancer centres across the country in 2012, a measure to stem the high rate of the disease in the country.
Meanwile, Nobel laureate winner, Prof Wole Soyinka, has blamed past leaders in the country for the high rate of cancer in Nigeria.

Minister for Health, Prof. Oyebuchi Chukwu,  who gave the hint at the first annual lecture organised by the African Cancer Centre in Lagos, said the planned centres were part of government’s effort to boost diagnosis and treatment of the disease in Nigeria.
Chukwu, who was represented by Prof. Akin Oshinbogun, said: “This is how we can deliver health services to the citizens of the country. And this is the way the Federal Government believes that cancer disease can be reduced drastically in the country.”
The minister said the Federal Government alone could not tackle cancer disease but required the involvement of stakeholders, particularly the private sector, to bring the disease under control in Nigeria.

SOURCE: VANGUARD