Rep Obi wants FG to replicate LUTH-NSIA cancer centre

A lawmaker, Dr Paschal Obi, has urged Federal Government to replicate the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA)-Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Cancer Centre in other parts of the country.

Obi, also the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions, made the call on Monday during his committee’s oversight visit to LUTH, Idi-Araba.

Our correspondent reports that President Muhammadu Buhari, had on Feb. 26, 2019 inaugurated the NSIA-LUTH advanced cancer treatment centre in Lagos.

It was structured under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between NSIA and LUTH.

According to Obi, NSIA is an ultra modern Oncology centre that needs to be established in the Eastern and Northern parts of the country, apart from Lagos.

“We are impressed with what we met on ground. We understand that the LUTH-NSIA is a Private Partnership Programme (PPP) arrangement.

“We are now pleading with the Federal Government to continue to partner or collaborate with NSIA to ensure that a facility of this magnitude and stature is replicated in other parts of the country,” he said.

Obi said this would be in the overall interest of Nigerians, pointing out that the NSIA-LUTH facility was not enough to service cancer patients across the country.

The lawmaker said the numbers of cancer patients were increasing daily, hence the urgent need for the Federal Government to replicate the NSIA centre in other parts of the country.

He, however, assured the LUTH Chief Medical Director, Prof. Chris Bode, that the committee would continue to collaborate with him and make favourable recommendations about the hospital.

Obi said the health institution needs to urgently address the expansion of its Accident and Emergency Centre, noting that other old structures in the hospital should be rehabilitated.

According to him, there is need for adequate budgetary provisions for the hospital to carry out rehabilitation of its old structure.

“Overstretched facilities, obviously are here; for an institution that started 58 years ago, it is not out of place to have such structure here,” he said.

Earlier, the chief medical director had called for support of the committee for the expansion of the hospital’s Accident and Emergency centre.

Bode said the hospital has its own challenges in respect of some patients who still occupied bed spaces in the wards, and were unable to pay their medical bills after accessing treatment.

He said the ward should be expanded to avoid spilling over of patients and treatment of patients inside vehicles.

Bode said that some hospital facilities had been overstretched and needed urgent intervention.