The Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) has expressed grave safety concerns over the functionality of eight out of the 14 radiotherapy machines in the country.
This disclosure was made by the Director General of NNRA, Ya’u Usman Idris, during the World Cancer Day Symposium organized by Project Pink Blue in Abuja.
Idris lamented that, of the 14 radiotherapy centers in Nigeria, only six are licensed by the NNRA, and even some of those licensed centers are not fully operational. He highlighted the dire situation by pointing out that Nigeria, with a population of 200 million people, only possesses seven Linacs (Linear accelerators) for cancer treatment, while South Africa has 92 and Egypt has 76.
The Director General underscored the critical shortage of functional equipment, stating that Nigeria has only two Nuclear Medicine centers with gamma cameras, both of which are non-operational. In comparison, a country like Tunisia, with a much smaller population, boasts 14 working gamma cameras.
Furthermore, Idris drew attention to the lack of access to Positron Emissing Tomograph Computed Tomography (PET-CT) equipment, with only one privately owned machine in the entire country. He questioned the capability of the healthcare system to effectively treat cancer with such inadequate resources.
Regarding the regulatory aspect, Idris emphasized that the NNRA has gazetted regulations and procedures, including licensed experts, to ensure the safe operation of cancer treatment facilities. However, he expressed frustration that despite the guidelines, many hospitals lack qualified personnel and proper equipment, putting the blame on the regulatory agency.
In response to the crisis, the Federal Government has announced plans to establish six cancer centers across the six geo-political zones of the country. Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Tunji Alausa assured that additional funding has been secured to address the shortcomings in the budget allocated during the last administration. He noted the urgency of the situation and pledged that groundbreaking for the new cancer centers would happen soon.
