Abuja (Nigeria): The Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, Sen. Sunday Katung, has stated that the proposed Sickle Cell Disorder Research and Therapy Centres would require N4.7 billion for establishment.
Katung, who sponsored the bill which has scaled second reading in the Senate, made this known in an interview with reporters in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said, “In a typical bill of this nature, there’s a cost element attached to the bill. But that’s for the federal government, which is going to set up this institution. So there’s a cost element attached.
“The total cost to set up the centres in the first instance is N4.7 billion,” he said.
On the cost-effectiveness of setting up a centre in each geopolitical zone, Katung said the suggestion of some of the senators during the debate on the bill would be considered during the public hearing.
“If you listened to the contributions made by senators, Sen. Natasha, in particular, was of the view that we could attach each of these centres to a teaching hospital in the zone.
“So all those things are in the offing. We will examine all options during the public hearing to determine which is most cost-effective for the country. So everything is possible during the public hearing,” he said.
Katung said that the bill was a significant step towards addressing Nigeria’s heavy burden of sickle cell disorder (SCD).
He said it was aimed at creating institutional and legal frameworks for the establishment, management, and operation of centres.
“These centres will be dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment and research of the disease which continues to claim thousands of lives annually”.
He said that the motivation for sponsoring the legislation stemmed from a deeply personal experience more than two decades ago, when he witnessed the agony of a family grappling with the illness.
“I witnessed a situation where a child had just come back from the hospital; after a crisis, the parents were contemplating whether to take him back, and they were saying Okay, we have not paid the last bill.
“If we go back, they are not going to take him, and the child overheard them and said Mom, dad, please allow me to die so that you can rest, and I too will rest,” Katung recalled with emotion.
“That statement has stayed with me for 25 years. I promised myself that if I ever had the opportunity, I would bring this issue to public attention. That is why I introduced this bill.”
He said that the proposed legislation sought to establish research and therapy centres that would, in the first phase, operate in the six geopolitical zones, before eventual expansion to every local government area in the country.
“We discovered that out of more than 300,000 children who die before the age of five on account of this disease, 150,000 come from Nigeria. So Nigeria is the second largest carrier of this disease in the world, and in Africa, we are first.
“This means there are so many people who are down with this disorder, and because of a lack of sufficient treatment or knowledge, they are unable to get proper care.
“I know the treatment is quite expensive. This bill will bring treatment closer to the people.It will also help create awareness among people not to marry people who are potential carriers because it would be like expanding the scope of people who have the disease.
“So, apart from creating these research centres, there is also the possibility of getting a cure because it is a black man’s disease, from what we have come to understand.
“There was once a promising effort led by a late professor at the Pharmacology Centre, but it stalled after his death. This bill will help revive such research efforts,” he said.”
