The management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has introduced a microdosing technique to reduce the cost of cancer therapy in Nigeria.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Darlignton Obaseki, made this known in Lagos on Tuesday.
He said that the technique would drastically cut down the cost of expensive anti-cancer medicines while ensuring availability.
He said UBTH is the first hospital in Nigeria to dispense anti-cancer medicines through the method.
The technique, he said, allowed patients to share vials of medicine thus reducing the cost of anti-cancer medicines and eliminating wastage.
Obaseki said that the technique had been attracting patients both within and outside the state and in Edo, adding that no fewer than 5,000 patients had since benefitted from the service.
“Cancer chemo drugs are very expensive. Most times, when you buy one vial you won’t use all of it but you are not allowed to keep it so you have to throw it away and buy another one next time.
“ So, what we did was to set up a machine. There is what we call microdosing, that allows us to share one vial among five patients.
“This has crashed the cost of getting these drugs to cancer patients.
“We are the first center in Nigeria doing this and we can not allow this go down. It requires a special chamber,” he said.
Obaseki said that UBTH, also as part of its cancer care programme, would soon become the second hospital in West Africa to offer brachytherapy services.
Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation therapy that is often used to treat cancers affecting certain parts of the body such as the head, neck, breast, cervix, prostate, and the eye.
“We have procured and installed a brachytherapy machine in a dedicated building which also has several treatment areas and administrative offices,” he said.
“The service,initially planned to take off in the third quarter of 2020, had to be put on hold because of COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The CMD said that the centre is now fully equipped and ready for take-off this year.
He regretted that COVID-19 had prevented the hospital from replacing its hi-tech linear accelerator which broke down some years ago.
“It’s something that worries me. I have done a lot to try to bring it on.
“ That machine was the only one taking care of the whole of the South-South of Nigeria.
“People come from all places do come and take treatment here. Last year, I went to Dubai and met with the manufacturers. I also got a letter from Sweden.
“They agreed to give us two new machines and also promised to remove the faulty one and give us the latest model.
“That was January last year. They also agreed to spread the cost of payment over five years,” Obaseki said.
He said that though somebody had paid one fifth of the amount yet more funding was required to fix the linear accelerator to facilitate cancer treatment in order to save lives.
The CMD urged the Federal Government, well-meaning individuals and organisations to aid the project as it still required huge resources to run and sustain.
