By Joyce Remi- Babayeju
President of Cancer Society of Nigeria, Dr. Adamu Al- Hassan Umar has disclosed that shortage of Oncologists in the country is one of the major factors responsible for Nigeria’s high contribution to the world’s cancer burden.
Dr. Umar spoke today at a press briefing on the State of Health and the Launch of Upgrade Oncology in Nigeria organized by Pink Blue Project in Abuja.
Umar who sounded a warning on the alarming shortage of Oncology workforce in the country said, ‘ WHO said in 2020 alone Nigeria has contributed to the world cancer burden with 124,851 new cases and 78,899 deaths and these numbers are expected to be on the raise.”
According to the Oncologist, other key contributory factors to cancer in Nigeria is the depreciating state of the nation’s health facilities, late presentation by patients, limited access to health care , poor distribution of Oncologists, high cost of cancer therapies, limited access to funds for treatment , limited training for Oncologists.
The Cancer expert noted that after cardiovascular disease cancer is the second most common cause of deaths worldwide.
Speaking on the State of Healthcare and Oncology workforce in Nigeria, Executive Director of Project PinkBlue, Runcie Chidebe decried the high shortage of doctors to patient ration weakling the nation’s health care system.
Chidebe noted that in Nigeria it is four doctors to 10,000 patients and 16.1 nurses and midwives to 10,000 patients which is less that the World Health Organization, WHO, recommendation of 1 doctor to 600 patients.
He said , ” It is estimated that Nigeria will approximately need 149,852 doctors and 471,353 nurses by 2030, only 99,120 doctors and 333,494 nurses will be available based on the growth rate.
“Going by the above data, by 2030, Nigeria will have a shortage of 50,120 doctors and 137,859 nurses, translating to 33.45% and 29.25% gap in doctors’ and nurses’ supply.”
He He lamented that with Nigeria’s population of 201 million, the country has less than 90 clinical oncologists (cancer doctors) who provide cancer treatment to over 100,000 cancer patients across the cancer centres.
Chidebe noted in Nigeria’s health care scenario there is only one cancer doctor to over 1,100 cancer patients, adding that mass migration of healthcare workers to foreign countries.
Quantifying the lose of medical brain drain to the nation’s economy , he said that the Nigerian government loses at least N 3.8 million for subsidizing training of physicians who eventually leave the country for higher income in foreign countries.
In Nigeria, there are 74,543 registered physicians, however, only an estimated 40,000 are practicing in the country for a population of 201 million.
He further pointed out rural urban pull as another reason causing great imbalance in distribution of health workers and distorted access to quality health care with factors high clinical workload, poor healthcare system, poor remuneration, corruption in the healthcare system, poor working conditions, security challenges, inadequate production of graduates from the health training institutions, lack of necessary facilities, poor value for medical professionals and other reasons.
Speaking on upgrade Oncology Launch, Gloria Okwu, Breast Cancer Survivor & Programme Coordinator, Project PINK BLUE disclosed that the Pink Blue with support from the US Mission in Nigeria supported the Federal Government of Health in 2018 initiated Upgrade Oncology , a US – Nigeria Science & Technology Exchange Programme to strengthen capacity of Nigerian health workers as well as Oncology professionals training 44 Nigerian Oncologists with upgrade knowledge on medical Oncology on areas of breast, prostrate , leukemia, childhood, colorectal cancers and pregnancy in cancer patients.
She disclosed that this year project PINK BLUE with support of Aspire Coronation Trust Foundation is launching the 2021 Upgrade Oncology which primarily focus on the training of oncology pharmacists, cancer doctors and cancer nurses.
She reiterated Pink Blue Project’s commitment to address all areas of cancers like prevention, care and treatment which would contribute to reduction cancer related deaths in Nigeria.
