In less than 2years, the member representing Eket Federal Constituency in the House of Representative, Hon. Bassey Dan Abia (Jnr) a.k.a Badan has proved to type that he is a lawyer, who knows that he was given a mandate to shape the destiny of his people and the country.
A bill sponsored by the Law maker seeking the establishment of a National Cancer Institute, on Thursday, July 10, 2014 passed second reading without hassle on the floor of House of Representative.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent, Hon. Abia said that an estimated 80,000 Nigerians die of Cancer yearly and that it was unfortunate that Nigerians are forced by lack of facilities to seek medical services in India.
The Bill entitled “A Bill for an Act to provide for the prevention, treatment and control of Cancer in Nigeria and for connected purposes”, he said, did not receive any opposition from members of the parliament but was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Health for further legislative action.
The functions of the proposed Institute according to the draft Bill comprises, advice to the Minister of Health on matters relating to the treatment and care of persons with cancer and the advice on the relative priorities to be given to the implementation, and to encourage the establishment of hospitals, vocational treatment and care centres and other institutions for the welfare and treatment of persons with cancer in all states of the Federation.
Obong Abia who has sponsored over Six Bills in the House of Representative within a year and six months lamented that the killer disease has decimated those he termed as “the mighty, the upright, the not so honest as well as the lowly in the society”.
“An estimated 80,000 cancer related deaths occur in Nigeria every year and 10 Nigerians die every hour. The death rate of some common cancers in Nigeria is alarming; 30 Nigerian women die every day from breast cancer, a woman dies every hour from cervical cancer, 8,900 Nigerians die from liver cancer every year, prostrate cancer kill 14 Nigerian men every day and every two hours a Nigerian dies from colorectal cancer”, he said.
He listed inadequate and poorly distributed clinical services, few centres with functional radiotherapy equipment and expensive radiologic services as some of the challenges bedevilling the country’s health sector.
Other Bills sponsored by Hon. Bassey Dan Abia, Jnr includes:
(1) A Bill for and Act to amend the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and control Act Cap VI Laws of the Federation 2004.
(2) Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and unwholesome processed Foods Bill.
(3) A bill for an Act to repeal the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act 2004 and to re-enact the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act 2012.
(4) A Bill for an Act to provide for the Development and implementation of a local industry participation policy for Nigeria among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment