'To stop treatment of cancer na death sentence' - Patients for Nigeria cry out sake of high drug prices

As evri February 4th dey mapped out as World Cancer Day, cancer patients and survivors for Nigeria don express concerns sake of how prices of cancer treatment drugs take dey skyrocket and goment no seem to notice.

World Cancer Day na international day to raise awareness of cancer to teach how to prevent, detect, and treat di disease.

Cancer patients wey tok to BBC Pidgin say prices of vital medicines wey dem suppose dey take regularly don triple or even quadruple for market.

High cost of goods and services na persistent problem for di Nigeria economy. Official inflation for di kontri na 28.9% as at December of 2023, according to di National Bureau of Statistics.

"I no even fit focus on my treatment becos I dey tink of how to raise money take buy di necessary medicine," Mrs Mary, wey dey receive breast cancer treatment for National Hospital Abuja, tell BBC Pidgin.

Mary bin dey diagnosed with breast cancer for 2020, and she don go through 12 rounds of chemotherapy bifor doctor suggest make dem try hormonal therapy. Dis treatment method involve one ogbonge injection wey im name na Zoladex.

"Bifor, one Zoladex injection na N60,000, now na N120,000 we dey buy am. I even gatz miss my appointment di last time becos I no fit raise money on time take buy di injection. Na only my husband dey carry dis load as I no dey work again," she tok.

Anoda injection - Zoledronic acid - wey dem dey use treat cancer patients, don reach N180,000 now, as Mrs Mary tok.

"Even my painkillers wey be N1000 bifor, now na N3000, vitamin C wey we suppose dey take regularly, one cup now na N7,500. I gatz change to di one wey be N2,500.

"And you no fit stop your treatment halfway, to do dat na death sentence. Even wit adequate treatment, one gatz dey pray wella to fit beat cancer, talkless of pesin wey start treatment come stop."

As e be say di national minimum wage for Nigeria na just N30,000, e dey almost impossible for average goment worker to fit afford cancer care, especially as e be say dem dey get little or no help from di goment.

Amina Abubakar, anoda cancer patient wey dey live for Kaduna, tell BBC Pidgin how a drug wey she bin dey buy for N5000, don rise now to N10,500 for one sachet.

"Di drug na Xeloda Capecitabine, you gatz finish 9 sachets bifor within one (chemotherapy) cycle, and each cycle na three weeks. I dey take six capsules evriday, three for morning and three for night." she tok.

At dis rate, Amina go need N94,500 to buy only dis particular medicine evri three weeks, di cost of chemotherapy and oda drugs no dey included.

"Di painful tin be say goment no even dey do anytin about dis. We just dey on our own. You dey tink whether your health dey improve, you still dey tink from where to get money for treatment.

"Tuberculosis patients, HIV patients, dem dey get dia drugs for free for dis same Nigeria, but for cancer patients, notin dey free. From diagnosis to di very last day, you dey on your own."

'Intervention dey but e no reach anywhere'

"We don get one or two interventions by goment and some NGOs to help subsidise cancer treatment for Nigeria, but e no dey anywhere near enof for di number of pipo wey get cancer," Gloria Orji Nwajiogu, President, Network of People Impacted by Cancer in Nigeria (NePICiN), tell BBC Pidgin.

"For National Hospital alone, we dey get 15 to 20 new cancer patients evri week. Compare am wit wetin fit dey obtainable for oda tertiary health institutions for Nigeria," she tok.

According to her, di 'Clinton Health Access Initiative' (Chai) get one programme where dem dey join bodi wit some drug manufacturers to supply drugs directly give hospitals, cutting off di middlemen wey dey inflate prices.

"But di quantity wey dem dey supply di hospitals no dey plenty. Na only a few patients dey get luck get di drugs at a fair price bifor e finish, odas gatz go for pharmacies go buy," Nwajiogu tok.

E get the Cancer Health Fund also, a Nigerian goment initiative wey start for 2021, but patients no dey find am to access di money.

According to wetin dem put for di CHF website, "cancer patients go fit access up to N2m in drugs, radiotherapy and chemotherapy" once dem complete three easy registration process.

Dis fund dey available for only six hospitals for Nigeria:

Di cancer patients wey follow BBC Pidgin tok say after completing registration, pesin fit wait forever to get approval for money and e no dey eva come.

Runcie Chidebe, wey be oga for Project Pink Blue - a non-profit organisation wey dey advocate for cancer issues, tok say di rising cost of cancer drugs no be just healthcare wahala, na economic wahala also.

E suggest say goment fit tackle di problem by "giving some tax incentives to big pharmaceutical companies make dem no dey comot for Nigeria".

"Bicos di more big pharma companies dey comot for di kontri, di more expensive dia drugs go dey get, and na di patients go dey suffer," im tok.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi na two pharmaceutical giants wey don shutdown dia business for Nigeria recently sake of how bad di economy dey.

Mr Chidebe also tok say for di long term, Nigeria suppose start to dey dream big make di kontri dey produce im own cancer drugs.

"We get di National Pharmaceutical Research Institute wey don dey do plenty research. Time don reach for dis research to scale up make we begin dey do clinical trials of our own."

"In cancer advocacy, we dey usually tok say early detection na key to beat cancer, but early detection no go make much sense if di patient no get enough money to start treatment or if im start treatment come stop halfway sake of lack of money."