Cancer surgery in Nigeria or abroad: how to decide

Surgery is one step in a plan

Cancer is treated with surgery, radiotherapy and medicines such as chemotherapy, often in a set order. Some cancers are best treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy before the operation. A good plan is agreed by a team of surgeons, cancer doctors and radiologists, and says what comes before and after the operation and where each step will happen.

When cancer is found early, it is more likely to respond to treatment. Weeks spent arranging travel are weeks in which a cancer can grow, so weigh the delay as well as the destination.

What a cancer surgery quote usually covers, and what it leaves out

A quote for the operation usually covers the surgeon, anaesthetist, theatre, the stay and the tissue analysis. It rarely covers the staging scans, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which can mean months of treatment and repeated trips. Ask for the cost of the whole plan, not only the operation, and add the trip costs below.

• Flights for the patient and at least one companion, and the visa process
• Hotel nights before admission and after discharge, while you wait to be cleared to fly
• The companion's time off work, and money for food and local transport
• Tests the foreign hospital repeats on arrival, even when you bring recent ones
• Medicines to bring home, and the blood tests, scans and reviews after you return
• What happens, and who pays, if a complication shows up after you are back in Nigeria

Recovery time and flying home

Recovery depends on the operation: a few days for a lump removed from the breast, one to two weeks in hospital for bowel or pancreas surgery. Major surgery and cancer both raise the risk of blood clots, and a long flight adds to it. Ask the surgeon how long to stay before flying, and whether you need blood-thinning injections for the journey.

The risks of going home too early

Leaks, infections and clots tend to show in the first weeks after a major operation. The tissue result, which decides whether chemotherapy is needed, may arrive after you leave. Agree before you go who will read it, who will give the chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and who will do the check-ups for the years after.

• The full operation note, not only a discharge summary
• Copies of every scan and the images themselves, on a disc or a download link
• The tissue (histology) report, where anything was removed
• Details of any implant, valve, shunt or device, with its make and model
• Your medicine list with doses, and how long each one continues
• A named contact at the hospital abroad, and how a doctor in Nigeria can reach them

Questions to ask any cancer team

• Has the diagnosis been confirmed with a biopsy, and has the cancer been staged?
• What is the whole plan: treatment before surgery, the operation, and treatment after?
• Which parts of the plan will happen where, and who coordinates them?
• Exactly what does the quote include: surgeon, anaesthetist, theatre, intensive care days, implants, tests, medicines?
• What is excluded, and what is the daily rate if I need more days in intensive care or on the ward?
• How many of these operations does the surgeon do in a typical year?
• Who reads the tissue result and decides the next treatment, and how will it reach me at home?

How it works on Mezo

Mezo lists cancer operations it can arrange with surgeons in the network, such as bowel cancer surgery and liver and pancreas surgery, each with a written quote after the surgeon has seen the biopsy and scans. For other cancers, a surgeon reviews your records and writes a plan, and Mezo helps arrange the referral. Either way, you can compare a written plan with one from abroad before you decide.

Common questions