Baba-Ahmed urges FG to declare state of emergency on cancer

From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Special Adviser to the Vice President on political matters, Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed on Saturday called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on cancer in Nigeria to give the affected Nigerians chances to live longer.
He spoke during the official unveiling and launch of Hassy’s Haven Foundation in honour of the late Hassana Mohammed Yakubu, a staff of the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna who died in late 2023 after battling cancer of the throat for eight years.
According to Dr Hakeem Baba, declaring a state of emergency on cancer just as the country did on HIV/AIDS a few decades ago would go a long way in ameliorating the suffering of cancer patients and their caregivers in the country.
He said, “There are more cancer patients than available equipment. So the government should declare a state of emergency on cancer. Buy the necessary equipment, recruit and train specialists, and deal with it. We cannot just ignore our citizens who have been diagnosed with cancer. It is very expensive.
“We are not doing enough of education about cancer. A lot of cancer can be treated if detected correctly early particularly cancer that afflicts women. Cancer of the breast for example is easily detectable and treated.
“Second, we need massive investment in our hospitals that treat cancer. Cancer can be treated and we have a lot of people that have been healed.
“Third, poor people cannot afford the cost of medication. The government must address that. We need readership that is empathy. Cancer is a very serious problem. If you have it, it is usually a death sentence in this country if you are poor.
“So if we have the combination of these and leadership that listens, who can understand that Nigerian money belongs to Nigerians and spend it where Nigerians want it, it will be great for the country because those managing cancer have the right to call on those leading us to assist them”, he said.
A traditional leader, Sarkin Dawalli MaiTuta, Makurdi, Benue State, Dr. Abdulazeez Tahir, also harped on the need for an aggressive campaign on early detection of cancer.
On her part, the immediate past Commissioner of, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, and currently the Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Women and Children (GIWAC), Hafsat Mohammed-Baba said, “Our teaching hospitals in the Northwest need to be upgraded and equipped.
“However, the issue now is how we can subsidise the drugs which are beyond the rich of the common man. Going through the chemotherapy for about a year or even more is also damn expensive. If the government can subsidise the drugs and regiment the treatment, it will go a long way.
“It is on this note that I want to call on the seven governors in the Northwestern region to look at cancer as something that needs intervention just the way we have the intervention on HIV/AIDS and other diseases”.