The Chairman, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in Nigeria, Prof. Pat Utomi, has called on corporate bodies and philanthropists to donate funds towards the provision of 37 Mobile Cancer Screening Clinics in every state in the country.Utomi also raised the alarm over the increasing number of Nigerians dying of cancer at a press briefing organised by the Nigerian Stock Exchange in collaboration with CECP as part of activities leading to the upcoming ‘Corporate Challenge’in Lagos on Wednesday.
He lamented that Nigeria did not have facilities needed for early detection of cancer and blamed this for poor cancer survival rates in the country.
According to him, many corporate organisations had lost their executives to the deadly disease and this should serve as a red flag that now is the time for the private sector to invest in cancer care and treatment.
He noted that the country was losing huge revenue to India each year due to the increasing number of Nigerians travelling for cancer surgery and treatment.
Utomi said, “I know someone who travelled on Wednesday to India for cancer-related surgery. The amount of revenue we are losing to India, the United States and the United Kingdom on medical tourism due to increasing cases of cancer alone is huge. Most times these people still die because the cases are detected late, such that even doctors abroad cannot perform any miracle.
“Many establishments have lost their founders, top directors to cancer in the last one year. Now is the time for corporate organisations to pull resources together to enable us to get a mobile screening centre in each state for early detection.”
The Head, NSE Corporate Communications, Mr. Bola Adeeko, said as part of efforts to raise the funds to procure the Mobile Cancer Clinics, the NSE had inaugurated the Corporate Challenge Initiative to encourage companies listed on the stock exchange to adopt cancer care as part of their corporate social responsibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment