The National Hospital, Abuja, has, in collaboration with Pfizer Biopharmaceutical Group, launched a telemedicine centre for the management of cancer particularly breast cancer.
Head, Radiotherapy and Oncology Department of the hospital, Dr Uchechukwu Nneka Shagaya, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during a seminar on the use of telemedicine for diagnosis and staging in breast cancer.
She said the centre would offer patients in rural areas opportunity for early breast cancer diagnosis and build the capacity of doctors in rural areas on breast cancer management.
She said: ‘We are going to do trainings online, webinars and reach out with the help of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to doctors in rural areas. So those doctors would be guided on how to be able to know how to refer patients for radiotherapy, chemotherapy, among others.”
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She said late presentation for cancer diagnosis and treatment remained a major problem in the country, noting that telemedicine helps in the diagnosis and staging of breast cancer.
The Medical Director of Pfizer Biopharmaceutical Group for Sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Soroh Kodjo, said the collaboration would enable patients to be reached faster and also ensure long distance management of patients through doctors.
He said patients who cannot afford traveling abroad for treatment could also access care in the country through the centre.
He said it would also save Nigeria a lot of billions of dollars that would have been spent on going abroad for treatment, “because it is a partnership not just with Pfizer and National Hospital, but also with experts outside the shores of this country.”
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