Kebbi State is doing a lot to stop the spread of cancers- Bagudu

Hajia Zainab Bagudu, the First Lady of Kebbi State says lots of works have been done in the state to stop the spread of cancers.

Bagudu made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja at the ongoing 60th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Scientific Conference of the West African College of Surgeonstagged; “The Role of Surgeons and Comprehensive Cancer Care in West Africa’’.

According to her, Kebbi State has done a lot in cancer control one of which is the advocacy being undertaken by Medicaid Cancer Foundation, an NGO.

She said that lots of policies had been made in the state to create an enabling environment for the control of cancer and all these had been effective to drive the move.

“The establishment of cancer desk and appointment of cancer control officer in the state is a very good one.

“After that, we started working with a group of stakeholders so that the state cancer control plan could be created and we have done that successfully, the state cancer control plan is ready for launching,” she said.

She said that the state had also set up a cancer registry where data about cancer patients were collected in collaboration with Medicaid Foundation for treatment.

She said that the cancer registry was set up in two hospitals, Isah-Yahaya Hospital and the state Federal Medical Centre.

“A phenomenal amount of awareness that has made people know much about cancer disease in the state has been done and still ongoing,’’ Bagudu.

She said that health workers had been trained in the 21 local government areas in the state on how to detect breast and cervical cancers.

The first lady said that the state had been able to set-up N10 million cancer project, where 70 cancer patients had been funded for treatment from the money.

She said that capacity building had also been made where people were coming with cancer issues and they were assisted financially.

Bagudu said that the state was working toward having infrastructure on the ground such as diagnostic facilities to be able to perform optimally on the treatment of the diseases.