By Chinonso Alozie – Owerri
Some doctors in Imo state, on Tuesday, said that in the South East region, they have a functional radiotherapy machine for the treatment of cancer patients.
This reaction in Owerri, came days after the chairman House of Representatives committee on health, Paschal Obi, representing Ideato South/North, from Imo state, said that in the whole of South East, South-South and other regions that currently there is no functional radiotherapy facility in the areas.
However, the lawmaker’s statement did not go down well with some doctors, one of them, was Doctor Austin Agbahiwe, an administrator of Imo International Health System and operators of Ikeduru general hospital and cancer health hospital.
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According to Agbahiwe, “You can see we are into first-class medical practice. Our niche area is cancer treatment, management and handling it.
“I think the lawmaker is not aware of the existence of a radiotherapy machine and treatment here in Ikeduru. I think he ought to have known that. He was the principal secretary to Governor Okorocha, when the memorandum of understanding, MOU, was signed.
“We came in from the United States of America, with our equipment and started work. He knows that there is high demand. A supply-demand gap in terms of radiotherapy treatment for cancer patients. And also, there is the death of it in Nigeria more or less.
“Some of the health services we render included the orthopedic clinic, we have the cancer unit here with the licensed machine to operate on the patients at different stages of cancer.”
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He continued by saying: “The message is that we have a functional radiotherapy machine and we run full courses for the treatment of any type of cancer here in Ikeduru and we are the only one for the treatment of cancer in the whole of South East and South-South.
“And for cancer, we also offer treatment on detoxification and rejuvenation, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery, and palliative care. The radiation therapy equipment is powered by solar and wind power and will be available for 24/7/365 days of the year.”
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