Osinbajo tasks Nigerians, corporate organisations on care of cancer patients

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerians and corporate organisations to join the federal government in providing treatment facilities for cancer patients.

He made the call on Friday in Abuja while commissioning the linear accelerator radiotherapy machine donated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) to the National Hospital, Abuja.

Represented by Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health , Abdulaziz Mashi Abdullahi, he said cancer management had been a source of concern for healthcare providers, patients and their relatives due to inadequate treatment centres, high cost of treatment and late presentation by cancer patients in the country.

While calling on Nigerians and corporate bodies to replicate what NNPC and SNEPCo has done to make treatment easily accessible to patients, he said the donation was a landmark event that would open up a new vista in the management of cancer patients in Nigeria.

He said: “The commissioning of this ultra -modern treatment machine gives us hope because patients now have where to go to find succour. This administration takes cancer treatment as a special project. This culminated in the upgrading of eight tertiary health institutions as centres of excellence in cancer management.”