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Olugbemi. Adeyinka Ogunleye
1 month ago
Overview
Lagos To Build Africas Largest Cancer Centre
The Lagos State Government has unveiled plans to construct the largest cancer diagnostic and treatment facility in Nigeria—the Lagos State Comprehensive Cancer Diagnostic Center—to be located in Alausa, Ikeja. The announcement was made by the Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, during the 2025 Annual Ministerial Press Briefing organized by the Ministry of Information and Strategy at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre.
Abayomi described the upcoming cancer center as a flagship project in the State’s healthcare transformation agenda, aimed at significantly improving cancer detection and treatment while reducing medical tourism and promoting local access to world-class care. He also revealed that the State has taken major strides to curb the brain drain of health professionals by recruiting over 7,000 doctors, providing modern residential quarters, and investing in the training and retention of healthcare workers.
“Nigeria currently requires approximately 300,000 doctors to meet optimal healthcare demands,” Abayomi stated. “Lagos alone, with a population exceeding 20 million, needs an additional 33,000 doctors to align with the World Health Organization’s recommended doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:600.” As part of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to making Lagos a regional hub for health tourism, the Commissioner highlighted several high-profile health infrastructure projects nearing completion, including; The 150-bed New Massey Children’s Hospital on Lagos Island, A General Hospital in Ojo, A 1,500-bed Psychiatric and Rehabilitation Hospital in Ketu-Ejirin
All three projects are currently at 70 percent completion and are expected to be inaugurated by April 2026. To ensure universal health coverage, the Commissioner also announced the deployment of a Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP) — a digital health tool that will facilitate real-time data management and evidence-based decision-making across health facilities in the state.
On healthcare financing and innovation, Lagos is preparing to launch the Lagos State Medical Industry and Innovation Zone (LASMIZO), a public-private partnership designed to drive medical research, local manufacturing, and health sector innovation. In her remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Kemi Ogunyemi, disclosed that the recent diphtheria outbreak in the state has been successfully contained through aggressive immunization efforts.
She reaffirmed the government’s commitment to reducing maternal mortality, scaling up malaria prevention, and enhancing awareness and management of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and other communicable diseases. Furthermore, Ogunyemi emphasized that all new health facilities will be designed to be climate-resilient and energy-efficient, in line with global best practices. The Sanwo-Olu administration also reaffirmed its goal of delivering fit-for-purpose primary healthcare centers and strengthening the state’s general medical infrastructure to ensure equitable access to quality healthcare for all residents of Lagos.
Credit: New Telegraph
