Prostate cancer treatment, a burden in Nigeria, says NGO

PROJECT Pink Blue, a non-profit organisation, says that prostate cancer treatment remains a huge burden to Nigerian men who were diagnosed with the ailment.

Mr Runcie Chidebe, Executive Director of the organisation, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

He noted that it was important for cancer patients to be given adequate support as it was not easy for them to pay out of pocket to get quality treatment.

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“Affordability of prostate cancer treatment is a huge burden in Nigeria; diagnosis of prostate cancer could cost between N147, 000 and N152, 000 while surgery could cost between N350,000 and N950,000.

“The patient will still need from 25 sessions to 30 sessions of chemotherapy, which could cost between N150, 000 and N360, 000.

“In total, such patient needs between N1.3 million and N3.3 million to treat prostate cancer in Nigeria.

“How many Nigerian men can pay this amount of money from their pocket to get treated? Many of these men would just decide to stay back at home and die.

“With poor national health insurance, it has become more financially stressful to cope with the financial burden of cancer in Nigeria.

“Very few families can afford to foot the bills of diagnosis, surgery and treatment.

“If the issue of cancer is not immediately placed in the front burner of our national, regional and state health plan, we will continue to lose our human resources, that is, our fathers, mentors, brothers, and friends at such time when they are most needed,’’ Chidebe said.

He said that as September is marked as the prostate cancer awareness month and that the Federal Government should consider the inclusion of cancer treatment in the health insurance coverage for all Nigerians.