The 63.7% Gap: How Rivers Built a 72-Bed Cancer Hospital With No Radiotherapy

Alice paid N2 million for six cycles of chemotherapy at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital in 2023, according to family accounts reported in Punch in May 2023. After completing chemotherapy, she was referred for six weeks of daily radiotherapy. The machine at the referral centre was not functional. She was told to wait for four months. While waiting, her family moved her between hospitals in Imo, Lagos and Abuja in search of treatment. Family members said the combined cost of scans, blood work, bed space, drugs and travel exceeded N100 million before her worsened condition.

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines for Breast Cancer Version 2.2026 state that chemotherapy should begin within 12 weeks of surgery and radiotherapy should begin within 2 to 8 weeks after chemotherapy. Alice waited for 16 weeks — double the upper limit of the international standard.

“The experience is what I don’t wish for anyone,” Victoria Glory Ugorji, a 34-year-old mother-of-one from Rivers State whose case was reported in Punch under the headline “We travel miles to access radiotherapy,” told Punch. Wheelchair-bound after her lung cancer spread to her bones, she expected radiotherapy at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.

“Doctor told me that the cancer had spread to my bone and that the best option was to go for radiotherapy. I had expected to be referred to UPTH, but instead, I was told that the nearest place was Lagos or Imo. Looking at my condition, I was in serious pain and on wheelchair and if I must go anywhere, I must go in a private vehicle,” she said.

She later chartered a car to the American Cancer Hospital in Imo State — 53 miles away. “I almost died. At a point, we waited for one hour because of the traffic jam. I got to Imo State around 9 pm.”

“We were about six people from Rivers State who came for the treatment and I was wondering why we couldn’t have at least a radiotherapy machine in the entire Rivers State,” she lamented.

Published accounts put her transport alone at N20,000 per trip, excluding caregiver and accommodation. “The treatment is N400,000. The consultation fee is N30,000 and the test was over N70,000. Accommodation was about N24,000. So, everything is roughly about N600,000,” she explained.

Hospital records from 2019 to 2022 analysed in the Asian Oncology Research Journal Volume 9 Issue 1 2026 DOI 10.9734/aorj/2026/v9i1144 show that 59.4 percent of cancer records came from UPTH. Breast cancer accounted for 36.3 percent of cases. Chemotherapy was recorded in 89.1 percent of cases while radiotherapy was recorded in only 25.4 percent. The gap between those who received chemotherapy and those who received radiotherapy is 63.7 percentage points.

Dr Olusegun Abayomi, a clinical oncologist practising in Port Harcourt, told Punch: "In a week, I see like between five and eight patients who require radiotherapy in my clinical experience here in Port-Harcourt." That translates to between 20 and 32 patients per month who need referral outside the state.

A review of the Appropriation Acts of 2020, 2024 and 2025, accessed between October 20 and 30, 2026, shows that the Cancer Health Fund was established in the 2020 Act. It received N750 million in 2021 and N150 million plus N50 million for childhood cancers in 2025.

No line item of N1 trillion for cancer control appears in any of the Acts reviewed. The Director General of the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment, Professor Usman Malami Aliyu, said in October 2026 that more than 2,000 indigent patients have been supported through the Fund. No data on treatment completion or survival outcome has been published.

Federal releases show six accredited centres under the Fund. They include University College Hospital Ibadan with brachytherapy confirmed by the National Health Insurance Authority in October 2026, University of Benin Teaching Hospital commissioned in July 2025, where Chief Medical Director Idia Ize-Iyamu said on August 31, 2026: "We have Linear Accelerator machine, 16-slice CT where we simulate the patient's lesion before targeted treatment is done using radiotherapy.

"That machine is the latest in technology in the world" and that the centre is "100 percent operational" and "the number one cancer treatment facility in the South-South region."

The other accredited centres are University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe and National Hospital Abuja.

As of October 30, 2026, the NHIA-published list of accredited centres under the Cancer Health Fund showed six facilities nationwide, with only one in the South South region — the University of Benin Teaching Hospital — and none listed in Rivers State, which has an estimated population of 5.6 million people, while the South South region as a whole has more than 30 million people according to National Population Commission projections.

The Dr Peter Odili Cancer Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Centre located at 120 Ikwerre Road, Rumuokwuta was unveiled on June 8, 2021 by the then Minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire. It was built by Julius Berger, designed as a 72-bed facility with 13 chemotherapy chairs and two theatres, and a catheterisation laboratory.

The Rivers State 2022 budget of N483.17 billion earmarked N26 billion as part of N78 billion for the health sector according to BusinessDay and the then Finance Commissioner Isaac Kamalu. The centre was commissioned on November 14, 2022 by Emir Aminu Ado Bayero. National Point found it completely deserted and silent on June 20, 2024. It was officially reopened on January 27, 2026 after a three-year closure, according to Whistler.

Free screening was held on February 28, 2026, where more than 500 people benefited according to Healthwise Punch, rising to more than 1,000 by March 1 according to the Independent. The Director of Medical Services Dr Vincent Wachuku said at the time that the centre had been opened to render services to all persons suffering from cancer.

The Chief Executive Officer, Mr Toni Rahme, said: "It's a 65 total bed space based on three main pillars; oncology and advanced oncology surgery, cardiovascular including cardio surgery and kidney transplant and nephrology." He said it was altered to provide treatment for all classes of people.

On October 26, 2026 the Rivers State Government in partnership with the Dr Peter Odili Cancer and Cardiovascular Hospital and Health Invest Africa launched a free breast cancer screening programme targeting 10,000 women, providing up to 10,000 free mammograms, according to Tribune.

Registration had commenced at the time of reporting. This reporter visited the centre on November 1, 2026. Screening and Pink October sensitisation activities were ongoing. Staff confirmed that mammography and chemotherapy were available. No linear accelerator was observed. Photographs taken during the visit are geotagged and on file.

Dr Nwamaka Lasebikan, President of the Association of Radiation and Clinical Oncologists of Nigeria and Director of Research at NICRAT, said in 2026: "Project STRAWN is not a shortcut around regulation; it is a governed bridge into the regulated workforce pipeline.

"Nigeria is investing in radiotherapy infrastructure, but machines do not treat patients by themselves."

Stakeholders noted that fewer than 80 licensed radiotherapy practitioners serve about 12 operational linear accelerators across the country. At the 8th annual conference of the association held in Port Harcourt in September 2025, she said: "We must rethink cancer in Nigeria.

"Our goal is to build a resilient, inclusive, and people-focused oncology ecosystem" and "Government must re-engineer the funding model and invest in hospitals where cancer is treated, so patients can access care without financial distress."

She added: "We see patients' trauma firsthand. There is no reason why every state should not have a radiotherapy centre."

Dr Adebayo Oladeji, Consultant Radiation Oncologist at UCH Ibadan, told the News Agency of Nigeria on World Cancer Day 2026: "Cancer is not always a death sentence; early detection saves lives."

On World Radiotherapy Day on September 7, according to Tribune, he said: "Currently, in Nigeria, we have less than 20 radiotherapy machines.

"That is serving over 200 million. That country like Nigeria, in fact, we need at least 1,000 machines."

A peer-reviewed editorial in the Annals of Medicine and Surgery on October 28, 2025 PMID 41377403 by Ikeoluwa Ayoola of Bowen University described the situation as "a silent emergency in cancer care" and noted that 52 percent of cancer patients will require radiotherapy.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2025 reported that Nigeria has 15 machines across eight states serving 223 million people and needs about 120. The Minister of Health, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said Nigeria records 127,000 new cancer cases and 80,000 deaths annually.

The Director General of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr Kelechi Ohiri, said in September and October 2026 that 23 million Nigerians are enrolled, 3,878 complaints have been resolved, N14.2 million refunded, 368 warning letters issued and nine facilities suspended. On cancer care, he announced a cost-sharing model where Roche bears 50 percent, NHIA 30 percent and the patient 20 percent, shielding eligible patients from 80 percent of the cost of selected cancer medicines.

He also announced support for radiotherapy ranging from up to N400,000 to full coverage for eligible patients. At private market rates of N1.2 million to N1.8 million per six-week course, N400,000 covers only 22 to 33 percent, leaving the balance plus travel and accommodation to be paid by patients like Victoria.

Budget forensics shows no Appropriation Act contains a N1 trillion line for cancer control. The then President of the Nigerian Cancer Society, Dr Adamu Alhassan Umar, said in 2023 that N1.5 billion allocated for cancer care sat unused. The Legislative Network on Cancer called in July 2025 for N5 billion for the Cancer Health Fund in the 2026 budget.

A model that works is the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre commissioned in May 2019 under a public-private partnership. It houses three linear accelerators and a brachytherapy suite and uses Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy.

According to NSIA, it has delivered more than 25,000 radiotherapy sessions and 10,000 chemotherapy treatments to about 15,000 unique patients. On February 3, 2026 NSIA signed a $154.1 million partnership with the International Finance Corporation, with IFC contributing N14.2 billion, to establish more than a dozen diagnostic and radiotherapy-enabled centres, create 800 jobs and train more than 500 professionals.

The Federal Government in July 2025 commissioned three ultra-modern oncology centres at Federal Teaching Hospital Katsina, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Nsukka and University of Benin Teaching Hospital Benin, each expected to serve 2,000 cancer patients annually and provide diagnostic services to more than 350,000 Nigerians and train 500 clinicians over three years.

On February 4, 2026 the Minister of State for Health, Dr Iziaq Salako, declared eight preventive oncology clinics operational at Federal Medical Centre Abuja, Federal Medical Centre Ebute-Metta Lagos, UBTH Benin, UNTH Enugu, UDUTH Sokoto, Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano and Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. On October 7, 2026 he said three centres of excellence had been constructed and commissioned, another three were under construction, and government plans to procure 35 linear accelerators over the next three years, with a target of reducing the cancer burden by 30 percent by 2030 under the National Cancer Control Plan 2026-2030.

Letters requesting comment on the status of the Dr Peter Odili centre and plans to accredit it for the Cancer Health Fund and on radiotherapy equipment procurement were sent to the Rivers State Commissioner for Health via email and WhatsApp on October 18 and 19, 2026 with a follow-up on October 24, 2026. No reply had been received as of the time of publication. The Director of Medical Services, Dr Vincent Wachuku, had earlier said on February 28, 2026 that the centre has been opened to all.

-Onwumere is Chairman, Advocacy Network on Religious and Cultural Coexistence (ANORACC)