Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has launched a benign prostate hypertrophy/prostate cancer screening and surgical intervention among police officers and men who are 40 years and above.
The Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Idris, while flagging off the medical intervention organised in partnership with the Stanley Medical Foundation and sponsored by the Imo state Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, Thursday, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, said the nation can’t be secured without a healthy Police Force.
The police boss said the two-week programme was necessary given the nature and pressure that goes with the work police officers do.
“When we constantly check ourselves, then we can have preventive measures so that the investment the country has on us would not be in vain. If we are taken down by diseases we would not be able to perform our duties. For that reason, we must have the platform and capacity to be checking ourselves regularly.
“Today’s event is one that would help us identify whether we have such a disease or not. If we have it then we start treatment immediately. If we don’t have it, we take precautions and know those things we need to do in order not to have the disease.
“I encourage every officer, over 40 years, to present themselves for the screening. It is free. If you do the screening and you have it, it would be better than not doing it but then you still have it. Then you would be in trouble later,” the police boss urged.
The Force Chief Medical Officer, DCP Ogunsanwo Olubunmi, said the gesture was part of the IGP’s interventions for police officers to stay healthy, as they could only secure the nation if they were well.
Olubunmi said a survey had shown that the highest ranking non-communicable disease among police officers was hypertension, followed by diabetes, but there was an increasing pattern of prostate cancer among the elderly male officers.
“This screening is coming at the right time. This is an opportunity for every police officer in the Force Headquarters to do the screening,” he said.
Also speaking, the Founder of the Stanley Medical Foundation, Dr Stanley Boniface, said prostate cancer was a leading cause of death among men worldwide, but the awareness on the disease is very poor.
Boniface, who also represented the Imo state governor, said the aim of the outreach was to foster the awareness on prostate cancer screening and the ills associated with the disease.
