Health
High cost of care forces cancer patients to abandon treatment — Expert
By Tosin Oyediran
A Clinical Oncologist, Dr Omolola Salako, says many cancer patients are dropping out of treatment as the cost of care can range from N10m to as high as N60m.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Sunday, Salako said the high cost of treatment remained a major challenge, despite some patients presenting early at hospitals.
“Where treatment is costing anywhere from 10 million to 15 to 60 million, in reality, many cancer patients are presenting to the hospital early, but they are dropping out of treatment,” she said
She explained that Nigeria had six major cancer treatment modalities, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, target therapy and hormone therapy.
“There are about six treatment modalities, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, target therapy and hormone therapy, we do have health insurance, but very few Nigerians are health insured. And then there’s a huge cap on cancer care,” Salako stated.
Early detection key to treatment
Salako, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Pearl Oncology Specialist Hospital, said early detection was important because some cancers could not necessarily be prevented but could be identified and treated at an early stage.
The oncologist noted, “On the second pillar is early detection. So, you know, 40% of cancers can be prevented, but some cancers can’t be prevented, but we can detect them early, like breast cancer, prostate cancer, part of the challenges we have with the available resources in the government, public sector and the private sector, we have underutilisation of the services. So I would like to pin more on public education.”
She urged Nigerians to undergo annual medical check-ups and seek specialist care when symptoms persisted.
“As Nigerians, we should focus on our annual medical checkup. That would be the first thing for every age and every gender,” she stated.
Salako recommended age-specific screening and medical checks, including Pap smears for women from age 21.
She also advised people with persistent symptoms to seek a second opinion, particularly when initial treatment failed to resolve the problem.
“From age 21, we want you to start getting a pap smear for women. We want you to do your clinical breast examination for men. From age 40, we want you to do the prostate-specific antigen test. From age 45, we want Nigerians to start doing their colonoscopies.
“The second thing is when a symptom persists, present to the hospital. If you are not satisfied with the resolution of the symptom, or the symptom continues, it comes, it goes, it’s persistent, then seek a second opinion,” she explained.
‘We can cure it’ at early stages
Salako said cancer could be cured when detected at potentially curable stages.
The oncologist said, “The goal is to cure it. We can cure it when it’s, it’s potentially curable at stage one and stage two.”
She, however, said some patients with stage-four cancer could still live long and healthy lives, depending on where the disease had spread and the patient’s overall condition.
“So it depends where the cancer spreads to,” she clarified.
Salako said cancers that spread to vital organs such as the brain, liver and lungs could become life-threatening because they interfered with the functioning of those organs.
She nevertheless said certain stage-four cancers could still be treated when patients remained fit enough to undergo treatment.
“When cancer spreads to other places like the brain, the liver, the lungs, those are essential organs that we can’t do without.”
“So sometimes patients present with advanced disease and it’s not that there’s no treatment. It is that the organs are not optimal enough, are not working well enough to receive that type of heavy treatment within the body,” she concluded.
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