Elekta Pledges Support against Cancer in Nigeria

Martins Ifijeh

The Executive Vice President, Elekta AB, Sweden, Mr. Habib Nehme has pledged his organisation’s support to address cancer in Nigeria through the scaling up of radiotherapy programmes.

Nehme is in charge of Turkey, India, Middle East and Africa (TIMEA) region for the organisation.

Speaking with stakeholders in Lagos recently, he said Elekta was commitment at the highest level to support in the sustainable development and scale up of radiotherapy treatment programs in Nigeria through equipment financing support, and clinical skills capacity development programmes for radiotherapy multidisciplinary teams advocacy for cancer care in Nigeria.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nigeria needs a minimum of 200 radiotherapy machines to cater for an estimated population of 200 million Nigerians.

Also, according to the IAEA, 70 per cent of all cancer patients will need at least one form of radiotherapy treatment, as this situation underscores the urgent need for strategic partnerships with companies like Elekta to make more Linear Accelerators available in the country.

The CEO, JNC International Ltd. (JNCI), Mrs. Clare Omatseye, who is Elekta’s Nigerian representative, reiterated JNCI’s commitment as a proudly Nigerian company to provide locally available after sales and technical support that guarantees machine uptime such that cancer patients are assured of Radiotherapy treatment from Elekta Linear Accelerators as and when required.

Recall that late 2018, Elekta in JNCI, successfully deployed an additional Synergy Linear Accelerator Radiotherapy with modern treatment capabilities comparable to other centres globally to the previously installed Synergy Linear Accelerator owned by The National Hospital, Abuja.

The new additional Synergy Platform was the first installation in Nigeria to have a Volume Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) treatment technique which significantly reduces treatment time and was awarded by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) on behalf of the Shell – Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other partners Joint Venture.

Elekta also invested in an intensive clinical capacity development programme working with the hospital management to initiate a hand on onsite clinical training for the cohort of very passionate and dedicated multidisciplinary team at National Hospital Abuja.