Following the launch of the five-year State Cancer Control Plan, the Oyo State Government recently inaugurated a steering committee which has been saddled with the responsibility of implementing the plan.
The membership of the committee, headed by the wife of the Governor and founder of the Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, consists of people that are potent forces in their fields and in the country.
The pioneer Vice-Chancellor of The Technical University, Ibadan, Professor Ayobami Salami; Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Professor Temitope Alonge; Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela; the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun; and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan were named as members of the steering committee.
Others are the Catholic Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin; Mrs. Sururat Oyero, former Public Relations Officer of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Dr. Oluyemisi Iyiola, Professor Olaitan Soyannwo and Professor Modupe Onadeko.
While commending his wife who is the initiator of the programme, Governor Abiola Ajimobi confirmed that his administration has “taken a pre-emptive review of the structure of the healthcare system with the requisite intent of meeting the health needs of the people of Oyo State.†He added that an extensive restructuring of the sector, involving the three tiers of service provision in the state is on-going.
In her remarks, Mrs. Ajimobi said her foundation has been at the forefront of the fight against cancer in the state in the last five years. “My first response to tackling cancer was to make cancer control activities a cardinal part of the vision of Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation, an NGO which I founded in 2012.â€
