The Federal Government has urged healthcare facilities not to send cancer patients home when they still require hospital-based care, stressing that treatment and support should continue even when a cure is no longer possible.
National Coordinator, National Cancer Control Plan, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Uchechukwu Nwokwu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
Nwokwu said the inability of a health facility to provide further curative treatment should not automatically result in a patient being discharged without arrangements for continued care at another appropriate facility.
He said where a facility lacked the required capacity, the patient should be promptly referred to another facility where appropriate care and necessary medical support could be provided without interruption.
“Even when there is no bed space, you should refer that person to where that care can be continued,” he said, stressing the need for uninterrupted cancer care.
