NICRAT Expands Access to Cancer Care, Partners AHAC on Capacity Building

The Director General of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT), Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, has restated the commitment of the institute to continue to expand access to cancer treatment in Nigeria.

He disclosed this when a delegation from Africa Health Access Consortium (AHAC), led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Mary Moussa, visited him in Abuja.

He disclosed that NICRAT has expanded its treatment centres from 18 to 25 which are spread across different hospitals in the country.

According to him: “We are expanding our treatment centres. Initially, we had 18, but now 25 centres in different hospitals across the country. Our plan is to continue to expand and continue to see how we can generate more funds than we actually get both from the budget and other well-meaning Nigerians.”

He lamented that the cost of cancer care is very high globally, explaining that NICRAT is working hard through different models to enable Nigerians have easy and affordable access to cancer care in all parts of the country.

“Health care financing is at the front burner whenever health is being discussed. At NICRAT, we have tried several methods to support and assist Nigerians and cancer patients to assess treatment.

“We have realized at different fora that access has to be with funding. The cost of cancer care is outrageous globally; it now depends on the government of each country to come up with a financing model that works.

“We have two broad financing system in the country. We have the catastrophic health fund which is domiciled at the National Health Insurance Agency that assist some cancer patients that are enrolled in their platform of insurance scheme.

“We also have what we call the National Cancer Health Fund (NCHF) which is domiciled at NICRAT here. It is an indigent fund for those that are not enrolled in the health insurance scheme. The institute is expected to work with the federal government and other partners to pool some funds to assist the cancer patients. So far, we have assisted more than 1500 cancer patients.”

He commended the Africa Health Access Consortium team for the visit and urged them to trigger their vast experience in fund sourcing to support the Institute raise more funds in order to assist more cancer patients access treatment in the country.

Earlier, the CEO of Africa Health Access Consortium, Dr. Mary Moussa, said that the visit was to explore areas of collaboration with NICRAT for the good of all Nigerians.

She commended the NICRAT management team led by Prof. Usman Malami Aliyu, for its effort at tackling the challenges of cancer in Nigeria.

She said the new ideas the Director General and his team had injected in the fight against cancer has placed Nigeria in the global map of countries that are working hard to halt the menace of cancer among their people.

Dr. Moussa vowed that her organization would partner with NICRAT in different areas including capacity building to its scientists.

Both parties agreed to continue further discussions on other areas of collaborations and partnerships in the days ahead.