The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Kunle Salako, said Friday that the country has not yet taken full advantage of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as other diseases.
Salako declared this at the launch of Oncoseek, an early cancer detection and predictive software, during the National Workshop of Technical Work of Nuclear Medicine on the development of national guidelines/policies of nuclear medicine, held in Abeokuta, the capital of the state of Ogun.
The minister pointed out that the growing load of cancer in the country required solutions and all management possibilities to address the disease.
He said: “The growing load of cancer is a concern for the federal government. Up to 60 to 70 percent of Nigerians know someone who fights cancer.
“Therefore, we are implementing programs that cut the prevention, treatment and control, including the continuous construction of six centers of cancer excellence in the six geopolitical zones.
“It is also important to keep in mind that a critical management modality that we have not explored properly in the provision of health services in our country is nuclear medicine.
“Despite the rich resources of human capital in the country in the area of ​​nuclear medicine, and our association with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nigeria is not taking full advantage of what nuclear medicine has to offer in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including cancers.”
He explained that his ministry opened a technical work group in February 2025, which includes key and diverse professionals in space, to determine how Nigeria can begin to display services and technologies of nuclear medicine to improve the health of Nigerians.
He pointed out that the detection services that can detect the cancers early, or even in the precacert stage, are an important mechanism in cancer prevention and control.
He assured the Committee the full support of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to ensure that any policy or guidelines that develop will be used to implement practical initiatives in nuclear medicine that can benefit people.
The president of the National Group of Technical Work of Nuclear Medicine, Dr. Kehinde Ololade, said that the objective of establishing the committee by the federal government was to develop guidelines and policies for the application of nuclear medicine in Nigeria.
In his comments, the State Health Commissioner, Dr. Tomi Coker, emphasized the importance of exploring nuclear medicine to reduce the rates of morbidity and mortality of cancer, stating that cancer can no longer be ignored.
The president of the Nigeria Cancer Society, Professor Abidemi omonisi, praised the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Health, particularly the Minister of Health, for gathering health workers to concentrate on cancer prevention.
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