FG Committed To Affordable Cancer Treatment — NIRT DG • Channels Television

The Director General of the Nigerian Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Usman Aliyu, says the Federal Government is implementing key intervention programmes to make cancer treatment more affordable for Nigerians.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, he explained that the government has introduced the Cancer Access Programme to subsidise the cost of chemotherapeutic drugs across the country.

He said the initiative, known as the Cancer Chemotherapy Access Partnership Programme, was established through a collaboration between the institute and several renowned pharmaceutical companies operating in Nigeria.

He explained that the fund supports patients through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, and is currently being piloted in six cancer centres across six regions of the country.

“The Cancer Health Fund is purely meant for indigent cancer patients. It’s not for those who can afford the services or have relatives that can support them,” he said, adding that the government provides budgetary allocations while the agency also seeks support from philanthropists and NGOs to expand funding.

He further noted that the Cancer Health Fund had been operational for about four to five years, and efforts were ongoing to increase its reach to accommodate more beneficiaries.

The professor revealed that the Coordinating Minister of Health, Ali Pate, recently launched three additional cancer centres, with three more expected soon, bringing the total to six new centres under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He clarified that care in these centres would be subsidised, not free, as cancer treatment involves expensive equipment and procedures.

Aliyu, however, said that through both the Cancer Health Fund and the Chemotherapy Access Partnership Programme, the government aimed to drastically reduce the cost of cancer care in Nigeria.

According to him, more than 22 hospitals and cancer centres had been enrolled in the scheme.

“What we do there is to subsidize the cost of quality and effective medication by about 50 per cent of their original cost so that cancer patients can access drugs they cannot get elsewhere at such a price,” Aliyu said.

The DG also highlighted another major initiative known as the Cancer Health Fund, designed exclusively for indigent cancer patients who cannot afford the high cost of treatment.