Nigeria has over two million cases of cancer with 100, 000 new ones annually,the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) raised the alarm on Saturday.
A communiqué of its 52nd Annual Scientific Conference held in Jalingo which was signed by the President of the association, Alhaji Toyosi Raheem, attributed the high rate of tumour and cancer in the country to a shift from the consumption of natural to artificial food and lack of regular physical exercise by citizens.
According to him, indiscriminate, unregulated and over use of herbicides and insecticides on the farms also contribute to development of tumours and cancer in humans.
He commended the Federal Government for the establishment of National Cancer and National Cancer Control Programme.
“We call on the Federal Government to fully equip the cancer centre and programme it has established with adequate human and infrastructural resources.
“This will ensure early screening, confirmation and management of tumours and other health challenges as the rate of late cancer diagnosis and detection is on the increase.
“The development makes treatment and management almost impossible thus making cancer appear invincible,’’ he noted.
Raheem also called on the Minister of Health, Prof. Issac Adewale, to integrate Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists into the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) and Save 1 Million lives Iniative of the Federal Government.
He explained that medical laboratory scientists set the pace and direction for movement of the entire medical team toward success in health care delivery.
The association also appealed to the Federal Government to tackle what it termed, victimisation of certain health professionals by some Chief Medical Directors in hospitals in the country in order to enhance service delivery.