Ntekim, who expressed the concern in an interview in Lagos, also decried the dearth of cancer diagnostic and treatment facilities in the country.
The oncologist urged the Federal Government to provide more cancer screening centres to cater for the large number of patients.
He said that the few existing centres attached to some major hospitals were inadequate for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease in the country.
``There are some countries, they have what we call cancer centres. And in that cancer centres they try to provide as much facilities as possible. In such centres, they are devoted to cancer treatment.
``Just as you are having orthopaedic hospital, psychiatric hospital, you know they take care of those issues. But, in Nigeria, we do not have such.
``The cancer centres that we are having right now are attached to some major hospitals.``
He said that 60 per cent of the cancer patients would require radiation treatment, which according to him, was inadequate and where available, most patients could not afford the cost.
Ntekim stressed the need for more radiological facilities to diagnose cancers so as to track the spread of the disease.
``Now, the diagnosis of cancer also depends a lot on radiological services.
“So, there is also heavy need for radiological facilities to diagnose cancer and then to be able to really track down how far they had spread.
``So, and in Nigeria, we have few centres which have CT scan, MRI, even for breast cancer like mammogram that is x-ray facility.
“They are very few. So, all these facilities are really lacking.’’
The medical expert identified power failure, expensive treatment, and lack of enough centres to attend to the patients as some of the major problems militating against speedy cancer detection and treatment.
``Most of our equipment needs dedicated or regular power supply and so the few centres we have, we are spending so much on generators buying diesel to maintain them.
“Because without these things there can be no treatment. So, this adds to the cost of maintaining cancer facilities in Nigeria.
``Well, for our patients, the cancer centres are very few so a lot of them still have to travel long distances to be able to access treatment.
“So, it is a lot of economic and social pressures on the few centres.
``But if the centres are more wide spread, I mean it could be nearer to them so that they can ordinarily get treatment from home. ``
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