A Radiologist, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye, on Monday said Nigeria required more radiotherapy units for victims of cancer to access and have proper diagnosis and treatment.
Okoye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that radiotherapy units being few had contributed to rising cases of cancer in the Nigeria.
According to her, only four are functional out of the 12 radiotherapy units in the country.
“By recommendation of International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) country`s recommendation for every one million population, one radiotherapy unit is needed for you to have an efficient radiotherapy servic
“ Now, because of the poor infrastructure we have in low and medium income countries Nigeria currently has nearly 12 centres for radiotherapy.
“Out of those 12 centres, there are barely four of them working.
“The population of Nigeria as estimated is 160 million and that is supposed to be an under estimation.
“So, if we are taking the population of 160 million that means we need 160 radiotherapy units in Nigeria.
“If all 12 centres are working, we are still underserved in terms of radiation treatment and diagnosis in order to cope with the cancer burden in Nigeria,“ she said.