Ogogo: The Plight Of Cancer Patients In Nigeria, By Kazeem Akintunde
Kira and Haleemah, daughters of veteran actor and screenwriter, Taiwo Hassan, popularly known as Ogogo, last week, revealed that their father is battling with stage-four cancer and appealed for the support of the public as the family explores treatment options. The actor’s daughters disclosed his condition in tearful videos posted on their respective social media accounts. They also revealed that several hospitals had refused to treat their father, forcing their appeal to individuals and organisations that could provide treatment for their ailing father either through traditional or orthodox medicine, adding that they are not soliciting for funds for the actor.
Hear Kira amidst sobs: “I’m here for my daddy. He has cancer, and he’s in stage four. The hospital is saying that they cannot treat him again; they can’t give him chemo again. So please, we are not here to beg for money. I really love to appreciate Senator Yayi (Solomon Adeola). He has been the one helping us; he has been the one footing the bills. What I’m here for is that if you can treat my daddy, if you can start chemo for him, whether it’s medical or herbs, please, I beg you…”
Ogogo’s daughters’ appeal set social media on fire with both orthodox and traditional healers openly declaring that they have the cure for cancer. Churches and Islamic clerics also claim that they have the magic wand to cure the dreaded disease. Few days later, veteran actor and close friend of Ogogo, Jide Kosoko, came out to say that over 5,000 people have made contact with the family offering one form of cure or the other for the revered actor. He expressed gratitude for the show of love but stated that the actor could not be moved to any of the ‘healers’ due to his fragile health, and urged them to continue to remember him in their prayers.
At 66, Ogogo has made a name for himself in the Nigeria film industry. He is loved by many for his stagecraft, hence the buzz on social media following his daughters’ disclosure of his health condition, with many Nigerians offering care and support. Unfortunately, stage-four cancer is not something that can be toyed with. His daughters revealed that they have considered moving him abroad for better treatment but they have been told that he is too frail to withstand the rigour of long hours of air travel.
In the last couple of years, cancer has emerged as a leading cause of death worldwide, surpassing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Nigeria’s cases of cancer deaths continue to increase every year due to the huge financial burden that impact patients in the country. The root cause of the high number of cancer cases in Nigeria could be attributed to the inordinate ambition of most Nigerians to get rich quick at the expense of others. Almost all consumer foods in Nigeria are adulterated, produced, and sold openly in the country to the innocent masses. Many traders and even farmers are willing to cut corners in a bid to make more profit.
Grains such as beans are being preserved by market traders with chemicals such as sniper, an insecticide, to keep it free of pests. Red dye is being sold in the market as palm oil or mixed with palm oil to give it volume, and fried plantain chips are prepared for sale with either transformer oil to save cost, or where vegetable oil is used, nylon is added to make it shiny and hard. Fufu (cassava flour) is prepared using detergent to ferment the cassava in hours instead of days as should be done. Ponmo (cow hide or skin) is preserved with formalin, another dangerous chemical. Unripe pineapples and bananas are quickly ripened, also with chemicals. Consuming these highly toxic packaged products is flaming the spread of cancers amongst citizens.
The situation is so bad that Nigerian brands of yam and beans have been banned across parts of Europe for containing excess pesticides used by farmers. Yet, citizens consume these foods on a daily basis. The result of this double-standard is the exponential increase in the number of kidney and liver diseases recorded daily, as well as multiple cases of cancers across the country.
There are Nigerians whose ‘trade’ is to produce fake and substandard water, soft drinks, and other expensive wine for consumption by the unsuspecting public. In our rush to make money at all cost, some Nigerians are into the production of fake and substandard drugs that are sold and consumed by fellow Nigerians.
One might ask: Where is the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) while this anomaly rages? Well, NAFDAC has been at war with manufacturers of sachet alcohol since 2018, but many Nigerians, particularly the masses it set out to protect, are up-in-arms against the agency on the pretext that the agency, (NAFDAC) is setting about “to kill their business”. These same sachet alcoholic drinks are freely sold at motor parks and garages, and available to underage children. The number of cases of kidney failure and deaths recorded in the country due to the consumption of these alcoholic drinks by commercial bus drivers is unimaginable and portrays the picture of a country at war with itself.
In 2022 alone, there were 269,109 new cancer cases registered in Nigeria, with breast and prostate cancer being the most prevalent. The Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN), in 2021, revealed that the burden of cancer is increasing and is anticipated to climb significantly in emerging countries. Africa accounts for around six per cent of the global cancer burden. According to GLOBOCAN, Nigeria had 124,815 new cases of cancer in 2020, of which prostate cancer was the most prevalent (29.8%) with 51,398 male cases recorded and 73,417 were breast cancer cases being the most commonly recorded for females, at 38.7%, followed by cervical cancer, at 16.4%. Also, an estimated 78,889 people died from cancer – 34,200 being males and 44,699 being females within that time frame.
As of 2022, Nigeria recorded 269,109 cases of cancer within five years (2018–2022), with the total number of new cases and cancer-related deaths in the year 2022 estimated to be 127,763 and 79,542, respectively. It was reported that breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma are ranked first to fifth, respectively.
Again, there are several obstacles to diagnosing and treatment of cancer in Nigeria. These include insufficient diagnostic equipment, high out‐of‐pocket healthcare costs, as well as delayed diagnosis due to the unavailability of health information and service delivery. With only 27 cancer treatment centres available for a population of over 220 million people, patients encounter delays as well as financial burdens due to lack of proper health insurance in the country. Many Nigerians suffering from cancer have had to resort to out-of-pocket expenses to fund their cut-throat treatments, which most cancer patients cannot afford on their own. Diagnosis is very expensive. Histology alone cost between N15,000 and N20,000. Immunohistochemistry costs about N60,000, and a patient still needs to do staging diagnosis. So, in terms of investigation, a patient can spend up to N200,000-N300,000 just for staging and diagnosis. In the area of treatments, mastectomy costs between N600,000 and N1 million depending on where you are going to have your surgery. The cost of chemotherapy ranges from N500,000 to N2.5 million depending on the variant of the cancer you are treating. For immunohistochemistry, a drug for a single cycle costs N2.5 million and the patient sometimes needs to take this drug as much as 18 times. For radiotherapy, which is also another form of cancer treatment, the cheapest centre in Nigeria charges N800,000; most of the centres charge more than N1 million.
The financial burden is enough to drive many Nigerians into the waiting hands of traditional healers, many of whom are in the trade to dupe their desperate victims. There are several traditional healers on social media claiming that they have the cure for the treatment of cancer and other ailments. Due to lax oversight, many of them get away with blue murder. They know next to nothing about cancer treatments, and simply collect money and dispense herbs that quicken the demise of their patients.
Again, the problem of brain drain has forced many qualified oncologists outside the shores of the country. According to the Association of Clinical and Radiation Oncologists of Nigeria (ARCON), Nigeria presently has less than 100 oncologists providing cancer treatments to its over 220 million population.
However, based on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards, countries are supposed to have one oncologist per 100,000 population. In Nigeria, less than 100 oncologists are providing treatment for a population of over 220 million, instead of at least 2,500 oncologists.
Again, equipment to treat cancer is another major challenge. Although the IAEA recommends one radiotherapy machine in every 250,000 population, Nigeria, with over 220 million population, has less than 50 functional radiotherapy machines instead of the 840 required to effectively cater for cancer patients in the country. Besides, Nigeria needs about N97 billion to fight cancer for the five-year period of the plan in line with the National Strategic Cancer Control Plan 2023-2027.
It is worthy to note that although efforts are being made by the federal government in tackling cancer with the establishment of cancer centres, launching of the Cancer Health Fund, and introducing policies to improve screening and treatment accessibility such as the National Strategic Cancer Control Plan, it is still like a drop in the ocean of the population’s needs.
Aside from the increase in the prevalence and mortality rate of cancer in older individuals in Nigeria, there has been a rise in the cases of childhood cancer. According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s National Cancer Control Programme, children currently account for 7.2% of Nigeria’s 127,000 yearly cancer cases, with juvenile leukaemia being the most common type.
While there are 58 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines for use in Nigeria, which is insufficient, the worst part of it is that all of them are located in urban areas. This is a major concern, as rural communities are left to suffer, resulting in a greater distribution of late diagnoses and untreated cancer cases.
That is why being diagnosed with cancer is like a death sentence in Nigeria. There are too many obstacles along the way to recovery, and that is why the number of those that survive cancer is relatively low in the country. In a country where the minimum wage is N70,000, only a handful of Nigerians can afford the cost of cancer treatment which is in millions of naira.
What we should focus on as a nation is to bring the numbers of Nigerians diagnosed with cancer to the barest minimum by strengthening NAFDAC’s oversight functions on the quality of food, water, and drugs we consume in the country. Those who are into the manufacture, sales, and distribution of fake, adulterated, or substandard consumables should be put out of business and jailed for life. The few other cancer patients should be provided with qualitative and holistic care and support by the government at subsidised rates. We should also strengthen our health insurance scheme to cover cancer and other deadly but expensive diseases. NAFDAC should also beam its searchlight on herbal medicine practitioners so that what they are selling to Nigerians are made under the strictest safety standards in appropriate dosages to help improve their chances at life and not what would fast track their demise. Our medical doctors should also be well remunerated so that they would be encouraged to stay in the country to offer services and bridge the healthcare gap needs of the population. Nigerians should also cultivate the habit of going for regular medical checks. Unfortunately, Ogogo lost the battle against cancer last night. May his soul rest in peace.
See you next week.
