The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed that the federal government had delivered three world-class oncology centres at teaching hospitals to enhance diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer patients.
He noted that three other centres located in Zaria, Jos, and Lagos states were well in advanced stages of completion.
Pate also said 501 equipment and physical infrastructures had been completed in 61 federal tertiary hospitals within the last two years of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
The said this while commissioning the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) Oncology Centre in Edo state on Friday.
He was accompanied on the commissioning by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the Coordinating Minister of Information, Wale Edun, and the governor of Edo state who was represented by his deputy, Dennis Idahosa.
Pate, who decried poor investment in health sectors in the past, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for “taking the bull by the horn.”
“This has been a promised day… The whole infrastructure landscape for the health sector is changing in our eyes. Thanks to this president who chose the sector that affects the lives of the ordinary citizen and decided to make that impact,” Pate said.
The Chief Managing Director of UBTH, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, said the Centre was an “indication of what can be achieved through visionary leadership.”
He commended President Tinubu for the gesture, adding, “We treated 4,300 patients with cancer in 2024. This is despite for 10 years, the only colour radiation machine we had was down. This centre we are commissioning today will bring succour to the people in South-south states.”
On his part, the Minister of Information, Malagi Mohammed Idris, described the Centre as a “promised kept by President Bola Tinubu,” adding that the same feat was being achieved in education and other sectors.