FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SECURES CHINA PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN RADIOTHERAPY WORKFORCE, SERVICE CAPACITY

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SECURES CHINA PARTNERSHIP TO STRENGTHEN RADIOTHERAPY WORKFORCE, SERVICE CAPACITY

Beijing, China | 15 August 2026

The Federal Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China to strengthen Nigeria’s radiotherapy workforce and service capacity, alongside a separate strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese medical technology firm LinaTech, as the country advances efforts to expand access to quality cancer care.

The agreements, signed during the Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako’s engagement in Beijing, provide for radiotherapy technical support, joint research and development, China-Nigeria academic exchange and professional capacity building.

The cooperation 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.

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,” Dr 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 and 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.

At China-Hospeq 2026, Dr 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,” Dr Salako 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.

𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚎𝚗𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚜, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚝:

𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚌 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝙾𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢

𝙵𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚏𝚊𝚛𝚎

𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜@𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑.𝚐𝚘𝚟.𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑.𝚐𝚘𝚟.𝚗𝚐