Cost of radiotherapy in National Hospital Abuja.. understanding the cost of radiotherapy in Nigeria.
Today 40% of all patients cured of #cancer are cured by #radiotherapy. In standard radiotherapy high-energy photons are produced either by accelerated electrons striking a high Z target (x-rays) or by cobalt-60 sources (gamma-rays). Here are some facts about radiotherapy:
✓ Radiotherapy is safe, painless and very effective.
✓ State-of-the-art radiotherapy can specically match the shape of the tumour with millimeter precision, thus limiting damage to nearby healthy tissues.
✓ There is 1 radiotherapy machine every 120,000 people in high-income countries, and 1 every million people in most middle- and low-income countries.
✓ About 40 countries do not have radiotherapy machines.
✓ 25% of patients who need radiotherapy do not receive it. By 2035, one million lives per year would be saved if they received it.
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Right now in Nigeria, there are only 4 functional radiotherapy machine.
They are the ones in:
UNTH, Enugu
UCH, Ibadan
National Hospital, Abuja
LUTH, Lagos
There were 7 before. Other 3 have broken down.Only Eko hospital is the only private hospitals that have a radiotherapy machine/centre….Federal Govt built two cancer centers recently…one in LUTH and the other in FMC in Abia…..Others are springing up in Kano etc…we need more.
PS: A cancer centre does not equate a radiotherapy center…Most cancer centers don’t have radiotherapy machines.
Because of the few numbers of radiotherapy serving millions of Nigerians and even citizens of other countries that may need cancer treatment, the waiting time and the traveling hours are the most distressing…
According to Dr Amy,. a practicing medical doctor based in Nigeria, “What is painful is how patients travel to one location because it (the radiotherapy machine) is okay(functional) and after a week of being on the waitlist, the machine will develop a fault. Then they have to pack up and race to another location (centre).”
Another doctor, Leo Pantro, said: “the insane waiting period just to use the machine. God have mercy on you if on your scheduled date the machine develops a fault. I do have a story to tell but what’s the point; it will only keep getting worse in the healthcare system”.
The above is just by the way….it was important to tell you the challenges cancer patient face in their quest for radiotherapy.
Cost of radiotherapy in National Hospital Abuja
For patients that have been referred to National Hospital Abuja and want to know about the cost if radiotherapy in the hospital..This will be helpful..
The cost of getting treated by radiotherapy in the National Hospital, Abuja, UNTH, UBTH, LUTH, ABUTH etc is dependent on several factors. Some of these include; your clinical state, the type of radiotherapy, the number of dose or sessiins of radiotherapy, and the type of cancer that is to be treated. On a general note, radiotherapy can be quite expensive and hardly covered insurance. The procedure involves the use of radiation machines, and also the contribution of a lot of medical practitioners from the same or other specialities.
On an average scale, the cost of one complete radiotherapy session or cycle can cost up to N250,000 to N1,000,000 naira or even more depending of the number of sessions or doses, the type of radiation therapy and the type of cancer involved ….A short course or a single dose radiotherapy sometimes may just be N100,000.
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