Dorcas Foundation: Children with Cancer Dying Daily in Nigeria

By Martins Ifijeh

The Founder, The Dorcas Cancer Foundation, Dr. Joseph Adedayo, has lamented that many Nigerian children were dying daily in the country due to inability to meet up with cost of treatment.
Adedayo made the remark during a fund raising concert organised by the Gospel of Compassion 3 (The Christ Brethren Church) in honour of The Dorcas Cancer Foundation for the treatment of children with cancer.

According to him, despite the inadequate facilities and machines for the treatment of cancer, there was need for people to sponsor the treatment of children with cancer, as the death of one could lead to great loss for the country.

Commending the Gospel of Compassion for their funding assistance in the treatment of children with cancer, Joseph stressed that government should create an enabling environment for private investment in the health sector, adding that the government cannot do it alone.

Joseph, who is also a consultant clinical and Radiation Oncologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said, “Private investment is very important to drive health forward, if you go to countries with good health system, virtually all of them is are privately manned. The government should create an enabling environment where it will be easy for private investors to bring in the machines and equipment into the country, they should also be provision of sufficient power supply to run the machines and also infrastructure for the private investors to set up radiation centres in Nigeria.”

On his part, the Associate Pastor of the church, Andrew Morgridge called on the federal government to partner with private investors to improve Nigeria’s health system for the treatment of cancer patients.
He said the healthcare system of Nigeria was not favourable to the under privileged, with majority of the health facilities becoming obsolete.