By Adeyinka Adeniran
The Federal government have been urged to reconsider its stance by reintroducing subsidy for cancer patients in the country.
Also, the need for government to evolve policies that will encourage people to embrace early cancer screening to aid ealy detection was also tabled before the FG.
The pleas were made by medical experts and stakeholders in the health sector who maintained that while the reintroduction of subsidy will go a long way in reducing burdens of settling hospital bills and purchase of drugs by individuals and families, introducing appropriate policies will make people see the need to embrace early screening and possible detection.
The moves, the experts said will help detect cancer in early stages and encourage treatment as against the advance stages that characterised recent situation across the healthcare facilities in the country.
The experts spoke in their various remarks on Tuesday at the Dr. Olumiyiwa Olugbolahan Olusanya Colon Cancer Screening and Awareness Campaign programme which held at Paul Hendrickde Lecture Theatre, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
The programme, which was organised by a Non Governmental Organization, the Miracle From Willing Hearts Initiative in collaboration with College of Medicine, UI, was initiated by a United States-based medical doctor, Dr. Olugbenga Dawodu, in honour of his nonagenarian father-in-law, Dr. Olumiyiwa Olugbolahan Olusanya, who is a survivor of colon cancer for up to one decade.
The experts who spoke at the event include: the Provost College of Medicine, UI, Prof Temidayo Ogundiran; Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof Abiodun Otegbayo, represented by the hospital’s Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee, Prof Bukola Adesina; former President, Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association Worldwide, Prof Emmanuel Otolorin who chaired the programme; as well as Commissioner for Health in Oyo State, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi, represented by Dr. Lanre Abass.
Dr. Kolawole Akande, a Consultant Gastroenterologist, who is the team lead for the project, and Dr. Olubukola Omobowale, a Public Health Physician, spoke on screening modalities of colon cancer and primary prevention of colon cancer.
They said colon cancer screening should begin at the age of 40 or 45 years because research has shown that screening colonescopy has been found to reduce the incidence of colon rectum cancer by about 60 per cent.
Delivering a lecture on the topic: ‘Burden of Colorectal Cancer in Nigeria, Prof Oludolapo Afuwape, a Consultant General Surgeon, advised Nigerians to ensure that they go for screening for colon cancer once a year because it can be treated and cured when it is still at the polyps stage, which is a precursor to colon cancer.
He also charged people not to mistake hemorrhoids (jedijedi) for colon cancer.
He said: “Most people think that once there is blood in the stool, it is ‘jedijedi’. Some think that when you have itching around the anus, it is ‘jedijedi’. Some think that when a man is impotent, it is ‘jedijedi’. Some say when you have low back pain, it is jedidedi. But the real jedijedi probably may be haemorrhoids, which causes blood cancer .
“But haemorrhoids are easy to treat and don’t kill. But haemorrhoids mimicks cancer. This is why we need to see what exactly is jedijedi. Let us define it, and it is not cancer. The incident of colon cancer in Nigeria is probably for every 100,000, you will get about eight to nine persons. This is a tertiary hospital, we get the clinic every Thursday, and we get about three or four cases.
“In recent time, we had 19 years old and we have 16 years old. There is 16 years old we are treating now. So, it is common now. People are more aware of it . People come for screening for it in more volumes. But they come late. Reducing the incidence will start from awareness education about lifestyle habits so we can catch the precursors early, and not cancer.
“There is small growth in the colon called polyps. Polyps are not cancer but can turn to cancer. So, if you find polyps early, you must treat it. To reduce the burden, the government should encourage screening so we can catch it early. This reduces economic burdens on the government itself.
“For cancer cases, government can subsidise. A long time ago, there was subsidy for cancer. But now the time is a little bit different. But the government can subsidise treatment of cancer.”
Dr. Dawodu, in his address, said: “I have seen a lot of patients, particularly Nigerians, with colon cancer. But they come in at late stages. In the United States, screening for colonescopy is very common. But a lot of our people, because of cultural belief and other attitudes towards screening, they don’t come. They come late. By the time they come late, it is too late.
“I am very big in preventive medicine because prevention is better than cure. Prevention is cheaper compared to curing a disease. This is one of the biggest reasons I set up this Colon Cancer Screening Programme, and this is just the beginning.
“Colon cancer is very common. A lot of our people died of colon cancer, and they blamed something else. The first thing to do is to educate the public to at least once a year go and see a doctor.”
