By ThePreview Team

 

The federal government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China and a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese medical technology firm LinaTech to strengthen Nigeria’s radiotherapy workforce and expand service capacity, as part of efforts to close the country’s cancer care gap.

The agreements were sealed in Beijing during an official engagement by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said in a statement posted on its official X handle on Saturday.

Under the terms of the MoU, both countries will collaborate on technical support for radiotherapy, joint research and development, academic exchange, and professional capacity-building.

The agreement also provides for a designated clinical training base in Nigeria, with the ambition of developing it into a West African hub for advanced radiotherapy training, alongside a fellowship pipeline in China for Nigerian radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiotherapy technologists and biomedical engineers.

In addition, the federal government is also pursuing institutional twinning between Nigerian cancer centres, the National Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (NICRAT) and selected tertiary hospitals with leading Chinese cancer institutions, to strengthen clinical practice, research and technical capacity.

“Machines without people are monuments,” Mr Salako said, stressing that sustainable radiotherapy services require trained professionals, reliable maintenance, spare-parts access and continuous technical support.

The cooperation builds on the federal government’s ongoing procurement of 35 additional linear accelerators between 2026 and 2028. It forms part of Nigeria’s broader health-sector renewal under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NSHRII).

“Nigeria’s wider engagement in Beijing also included the inauguration of the Radiotherapy Working Group of the China-Africa Hospital Alliance and confirmation as a founding African partner in the Link Global Oncology Alliance,” the statement said.

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At China-Hospeq 2026, Mr Salako highlighted further opportunities for Nigeria-China cooperation in medical equipment, diagnostics, digital health and artificial intelligence, local manufacturing and health security, with emphasis on technology transfer and domestic technical capacity.

“Nigeria has not come to Beijing to just observe innovation in oncology. We have come to help shape it, and to take it home,” Mr Salako said.

The statement said the federal government will pursue a joint work plan with named focal persons and quarterly milestones to ensure these agreements translate into functioning training, technical support and maintenance capacity across Nigeria’s radiotherapy network.

“The goal is clear: to ensure that every investment in cancer care translates into the capacity to save lives, reduce both physical and financial pain, and produce health for all Nigerians.”