Two factors have been identified as the major causes of death of cancer patients in Nigeria: Obsolete cancer diagnostic and treatment machines in the country, and high cost of treatment where this is available.
The experience of Mrs. Chidinma Okpala, who is still mourning the death of her nine-year-old son, Chibueze, who died of leukaemia in 2018, shows the pain and agony most cancer patients and their family members go through in search of care in Nigeria.
She told The Point that she went through a painful journey to make her son live, yet he died in her hands owing to her inability to purchase an injection costing N500,000.
She said: “I don’t want to remember what I went through. After all my labour and sacrifice, my little savings and earnings could not save my son’s life from cancer.
“Any time I remember how my son died in my arms because we couldn’t afford N500,000 injection needed to keep him alive, I break down in tears.
“Imagine watching your child writhing in pain and begging to live, yet you can’t save him because of money! Where on earth will I get that kind of money with my little business and nobody nor government to help? Cancer is wicked.”
The story of a breast cancer patient, simply identified as Mrs. Joseph, is also worrisome.
Mrs. Joseph has visited all teaching hospitals in Lagos in search of radiotherapy treatment, all to no avail, as the machines are not working.
The one at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital that was newly installed and commissioned by President Mohammadu Buhari recently, she was told, would not commence operation until May 1, 2019.
The only radiotherapy machine available in Lagos state, located at Eko Hospital, continues to break down as a result of over-use occasioned by high volume of patients requiring the service.
“The cancer has affected my hips and I was told to quickly do a radiotherapy before it collapses my hips. I have gone to Eko Hospital and they told me that their machine broke down. I was then referred to University College Hospital, Ibadan.
“Getting there also, I was told that their machine was bad and was asked to come back in two weeks. Though cancer treatment is expensive, for over three years that I have been battling with the ailment, I can vividly tell you that getting quality cancer treatment in Nigeria is difficult because the equipment are not there,” she said.
Experts say cancer patients with no access to chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery constitute the bulk of those who eventually die of the disease.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than two million Nigerians have some form of invasive cancer, and an estimated 100,000 new cases are diagnosed annually, out of which at least 80,000 of those affected die.
The worrisome statistics only show that cancer is unarguably one of the top causes of death in the country, and the situation is steadily worsening.
Investigation by The Point shows that the current state of our health care system is characterised by inadequate funding, lack of equipment, poor remuneration of health workers, lack of political will on the part of government may not be able to contend with the burden of diseases in the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, a former president, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharm. Olumide Akintayo, said Nigeria’s health system is unfit to manage certain health conditions.
Akintayo revealed that most equipment at the tertiary hospitals that should provide specialist care for illnesses like cancer, kidney failure, heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, among others, are not working.
He said: “Currently, we do not have the state-of-the-art theatre or machines in our tertiary hospitals. The health sector is poorly funded. And so, when all these are combined together, what plays out is that you have a wretched output in the system. We are not even talking about investing in research and development. Now, if Nigerians have the money to seek treatment abroad, why would they want to use a facility that will sentence them to death at home?”
Asked if health facilities in Nigeria now contribute to death of patients, Akintayo said: “Pray that you don’t fall sick in this country. If you fall sick, I’m not talking about malaria and typoid, then you will really understand what I’m talking about.”
According to him, the funding for health care is so “wretched”, even if the one percent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund is injected into the health sector.
He noted that with poor funding, “we have nothing but obsolete equipment to work with.”
He went on: “Most important life-saving drugs are not available. There is no money to stock them. The equipment are obsolete whereas there are high-tech equipment in hospitals abroad. We are not fit to manage certain health conditions as far as Nigeria healthcare system is concerned. Health is a global thing but what we have in Nigeria, is Nigeria style of healthcare.”
Also speaking, a renowned oncologist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Remi Ajekigbe, said emphatically that the poor cannot survive cancer in Nigeria.
“Even the rich do not always survive it. The reason is simple. Either the facilities are unavailable or where available, it is extremely expensive,” he said.
