‘Cancer patients to get free treatment nationwide without surgery, chemotherapy’

In a major boost to Nigeria’s overstretched oncology and diagnostic landscape, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) have struck a landmark partnership to scale cancer and advanced diagnostic services for underserved communities.

The partnership deploys long-term naira financing to mitigate foreign exchange risks and unlock private capital for healthcare infrastructure.

The IFC, under the deal, will provide about N14.2 billion or $24.5 million in local-currency financing to NSIA Advanced Medical Services Limited (MedServe), NSIA’s wholly owned healthcare subsidiary, as part of a $154.1 million nationwide expansion programme.

However, backed by the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window Local Currency Facility, the transaction marks IFC’s first healthcare investment in Nigeria structured entirely in naira.

The funding will enable MedServe to roll out more than a dozen modern diagnostic and treatment centres across several states, including radiotherapy-enabled cancer facilities, advanced diagnostic hubs, and cardiac catheterisation laboratories.

The centres will be equipped with high-end technologies, such as CT and MRI scanners, digital pathology laboratories, linear accelerators, and cardiac catheterisation equipment.

NSIA Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, described the partnership as a milestone in the authority’s drive to build sustainable, locally anchored healthcare solutions.

On his part, IFC Vice President for Africa, Ethiopis Tafara, said Nigeria’s rising burden of non-communicable diseases presents an opportunity to deploy innovative financing structures that mobilise private capital at scale without sacrificing equity in access.
MEANWHILE, Nigerians with colorectal cancer will start getting free treatment as a ground-breaking clinical trial aimed at transforming treatment options for patients has been launched in the country.

This was disclosed by a team of medical experts who worked on the trial and facilitated it in Nigeria.

The Co-principal investigator of the research team and professor of Surgery at the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Olusegun Isaac Alatise, during a media briefing yesterday at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, said that the first clinical trial using immunotherapy in Nigeria is now enrolling patients with colorectal cancer.

He said that the trial had gained official approval by the National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria.

“If you know anyone who has colorectal cancer, they can now visit OAUTH, LUTH and Medserve’s NSIA-Diagnostic Centre in Lagos, Nigeria. They will be examined free of charge and treated free of charge,” he added.