Nigeria’s cancer prevalence at 211,000 cases, breast cancer at 26,000
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria records 115,950 new cases of cancer every year, according to Apollo Hospitals in India, where more than 100 Nigerian cancer patients receive treatment per month at a cost of millions of dollars that further deplete foreign exchange.
The package cost of cancer proton therapy at the hospital, from evaluation to treatment, is $65,000.
The numbers are of diagnosed and registered cases and many more are undiagnosed and unregistered, said Apollo Hospitals Deputy General Manager (International Marketing) Amit Chanturvedi.
Out of the registered cases, 44,000 are male and 71,000 female with a subset of 26,000 breast cancer cases, he explained, and put the five-year prevalence at 211,000 cases to stress that Nigeria’s cancer burden is huge.
Chanturvedi made the disclosures in Abuja when he spoke on a new cancer treatment called proton therapy, which he said improves treatment and quality of survivorship.
His words: “Before I start, I want to share some numbers with you, so that we exactly know what we are discussing here.
“So, we are discussing two things here. One is cancer and second is the treatment. So how big is this problem in Nigeria? Right? So, as per world cancer registry, every year Nigeria has 115,950 new cases, and this number is from registry.
“Many more got undiagnosed and unregistered. So, every year Nigeria is having 115,000+ new cancer cases.
“Five years prevalence is 211,000 cases. Out of 115,000 cases, 71,000 cancer cases are of female and 44,000 are male. Out of 71,000 female, 26,000 plus cases are only of breast cancer.
“So, the cancer burden of Nigeria is huge and we are here with a solution which can deal with this problem if not completely but up to a great extent. We are treating Nigerians since many years now.
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Capacity building
“We have a big extended family of Apollo patient here in Nigeria. Every month, Apollo is receiving 100 plus patients in India,” Chanturvedi said, per Vangurad.
“But our intention is not only to take patients from Nigeria to India for that matter or any other country to India. We believe in capacity building in the field of healthcare of the country of origin where patient belongs to.
“So, for that matter, we have done some tie-ups with some Nigerian public and private sector. We are in talks with the National Hospital to run clinical programs in collaboration. We are focusing on telemedicine from Nigeria as well.”
Chanturvedi disclosed the talks are being held with hospital authorities in both public and private sectors in Nigeria to domesticate the healthcare system.
“Also, yeah, we are in discussions with many of the public healthcare providers for Comprehensive Cancer Center in Nigeria. So, those talks are also going on.
“Regarding Proton cost, which somebody asked from Dr. Sapna, the cost of the proton is $65,000. That is a package cost from evaluation to treatment to everything.
“So, the cost of proton as Dr. Sapna mentioned is expensive actually, and we are the only center who have this technique in the whole of Southeast Asia and Middle East.
“But it’s not the only option with Apollo group. We have all kinds of radiation machines available from CyberKnife to normal linear accelerator to TomoTherapy.
“So, we give a choice to the patient and is dependent on the patient to choose from all available options. So, as we have all the options available and under one roof, we give all the options to the patient with the benefit and the side effects.
“Proper medical counseling done before administrating any treatment so that patient can take an informed decision. So, again, proton is one of the options and not only option.
Sharing common things between India and Nigeria
“We are sharing lots of things in common between India and Nigeria including our culture, our values, the way we respect our elders, you know our economic regions are almost also very, very much similar.
“Around 80% to 85% of Indians are not able to afford protons, but those who are able to afford, they should know that yes, there is a solution for them. That is most important.”
Dr. Sapna Nangia, a senior consultant radiation oncologist from India, also highlighted the benefits of proton therapy.
“Proton therapy has multiple advantages that target tumours and cancer cells with precision and minimal exit dose thus reducing overall toxicity.
“It also reduces the probability and/or severity of short-and-long side effects on surrounding healthy tissues and organs. It is favorable in treating recurrent tumours, even in patients who have already received radiation,” she said.