The Lateef Jakande Auditorium of the Lagos State House of Assembly was packed full on Wednesday, September 28, 2016. The faces in the hall were friendly, they were smiling faces but you can deduce the seriousness in their looks.
It was the one-day public hearing programme organised by the House Committee on Health where members of the public particularly stakeholders in the health sector were invited to discuss and make suggestions on a Bill for the establishment of a Cancer Institute in the state.
The attendance, the passionate discussion and the commitment of the participants to contributing their quota to the eradication of the cancer disease in the state were confirmation that the Bill when passed into law will be one of the most people-oriented laws to be enacted by the House.
Not a few who participated at the one day event heaped praises on the state Assembly, particularly the Speaker, Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, for their determination and commitment to the eradication of cancer of all sorts from the Nigerian society with special emphasis on Lagos State.
Participants were particularly pleased that the House sought contributions and suggestions from members of the public especially stakeholders from the health sector.
“The House deserves praises particularly the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, who we learnt was the initiator of the Bill. This is an initiative that will go a long way in reducing the menace of the disease to the barest minimum,” one of the participants said.
In initiating the establishment of the Cancer Institute bill, Speaker Obasa was guided by the alarming statistics released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on increasing cases of cancer globally particularly the third world countries, among which is Nigeria.
Before discussing the aims, objectives and operation of the Bill, there is the need to explain in brief what cancer means.
According to medical experts, cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body hence it has the potentials to kill if not detected and treated early. It should be noted however that not all tumours are cancerous; thus, benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body.
Cancer does not occur without symptoms, hence if you are having an unusual lump in any part of your body, you are bleeding abnormally, you are losing weight without cause, you have a prolonged cough or you have a sudden change in your bowel movement, then danger may be lurking and you have to see your doctor fast.
Many cancers can be prevented by not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, not drinking too much alcohol, eating plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, vaccination against certain infectious diseases, not eating too much processed and red meat, and avoiding too much sunlight exposure.
To the layman, cancer is notorious because it is a terminal disease which eventually terminates the life of anyone afflicted with it. To make matter worse, it is of different kinds: skin, lungs, throat, prostate, cervical, breast, blood, bone and mouth cancer, among others.
Some are common to females like breast and cervical cancers while prostate is only associated with men. But they all have one grim consequence if not detected and treated on time: death.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IAPC), as at 2008, 7.6 million people have died globally from cancer while it was predicted that the figure will reach 21 million in 2030.
In 2012, about 14.1 million new cases of cancer occurred globally and this does not include skin cancer other than melanoma. It caused about 8.2 million deaths or 14.6 percent of human deaths.
Apart from this, cancer has been responsible for 13 percent of all deaths in the world while 70 percent of these deaths occur in middle and low income countries like Nigeria.
It was also reported that only 17 percent of African countries have fund for cancer control programmes while less than 50 percent of the countries of the world can boast of such fund for cancer control programmes.
Coming home to Nigeria, 10,000 people die annually from cancer while 250,000 new cases are reported annually.
The biggest loss to cancer in Nigeria was former President Umar Musa Yar Adua who died of lung cancer while in office in 2010.
Former Nigerian First Lady, Mrs Maryam Babangida, also died of cancer (ovarian) in 2009.
Therefore, to say that the decision of the Lagos State House of Assembly to initiate the Bill that will pave way for the establishment of the Cancer Institute was well applauded round the state will be an understatement.
“There is need for us to take the bull by the horns and tackle this menace because we can’t continue to lose precious lives to this deadly disease every year,” Speaker Obasa said during the public hearing.
Giving a breakdown of the bill, the Majority Leader of the House, Sanai Agunbiade, the Cancer Institute expected to be established by the bill seeks to provide, among other things: provide affordable and subsidised medical care for cancer patients; carry out research in other terminal diseases but with special emphasis on cancer-related ones; carry out extensive diagnosis; provide current, advanced and latest technological diagnostic instruments; gather and provide accurate data of terminally ill patients in Lagos; provide guidelines for all palliative care providers; and ensure that curative and palliative medical care are vigorously provided in hospitals in the state.
The bill also seeks the establishment a terminal illness centre in all the 57 councils of the state while there will be a cancer advisory council to be chaired by the governor.
“Our intention is to ensure that the gains of this initiative are taken to the grassroots and we want to ensure that all are involved to boost its success,” the Lagos Speaker said.
Overall, the praises being rained on this initiative is an indication that the Lagos State House of Assembly is not only the leading state Assembly in the country but also the most proactive.
Indeed it is a confirmation that the Assembly particularly under the leadership of Obasa is above common standard of excellence.
By Musbau Razak,
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
