Random Musing of a Doctor

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

World MSA day: Nigerians to have Candles Lit in Memory of Victims

In commemoration of the World MSA Day on October 3, Nigerians are set to participate in creating a chain of illumination for those who have lost their lives to Multiple System Atrophy worldwide by holding special candle lighting.

The Nigerian special candle lighting will take place by 8pm at the St. Saviour’s Hall, Onikan Lagos. This would also be observed across the world to create an unbroken chain of illumination reaching every corner of the earth for 24 hours.

The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has extended by four weeks the ultimatum it earlier issued to the Federal Government to review the irregularities in the remuneration of her members occasioned by the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

President of the Association, Doctor Osahon Enabulele who presented the communique of the association at a news conference in Abuja says the National Executive Council of the Association, at an emergency meeting resolved to extend the ultimatum.

The University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) said on Tuesday that it has joined the league of teaching hospitals in the country that have successfully carried out Invitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, Chief Medical Director of UITH said that a 33- year-old woman’s eggs was fertilised through a process known as Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection.

Substandard hospital care caused nearly 17 million cases of harm in high-income countries, and nearly 26 million cases of harm in low- and middle-income countries.

In high-income countries, the most common type of substandard care involved harm from medicines, which occurred in 5 per cent of hospital stays. In low - and middle-income countries, blood clots were the most common issue, occurring in 3 per cent of hospital stays, the investigators found.

A Nigerian medical doctor, Quincy Atohengbe, has advised Nigerians to stop self-medication whenever they experienced headaches to avoid liver damage.

Atohengbe, who is of the Department of Family Medicine, Central Hospital, Benin, advised that people consult doctor for proper diagnosis before taking medicines.

The physician, who is also the Secretary of the Edo branch of Nigeria Medical Association, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Monday.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris has warned health workers in the State against the practice of selling the Maternal and Child Health Booklets including the Mama’s Kit – a delivery pack produced for pregnant women by the State.

Idris who urged Lagosians to report such cases, said the items were meant to be distributed free of charge to mothers.

By KOSISI UDEMBA & MODINAT AMINAT

SIX-YEAR-OLD Rahaman Ajana is currently battling a congenital heart deformity described described as symptomatic congenital heart disease. A pupil of Success Crown Nursery/Primary School, Oworonshoki, Lagos, Rahama has been in and out of hospital so many times, she misses school.

The girl has a lifetime history of illness and falls sick so often, she has to see a pediatrician ever so often.

By Chioma Obinna

No fewer than 400 babies affected by neonatal jaundice are managed successfully at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi Araba, Lagos, every month. To aid the management of the babies,the Year Book Class, YBC, (final year medical students) of College of Medicine, University of Lagos, CMUL, has donated two phototherapy machines to the Neonatal Unit of the hospital.

Neonatal jaundice, according to an Associate Professor of Paediatrics, CMUL, Dr. Chinyere Ezeaka, is a medical emergency capable of damaging a baby’s brain for life.

By CHIOMA OBINNA, MODINAT AMUSAT & KOSISO UDEMBA

With less than 10 percent of Nigerians donating blood voluntarily, the country is currently reeling under the onslaught of serious shortage of safe blood and blood products, even as opinion leaders in the country, particularly, those in the rural communities have been urged to lead by example by donating blood voluntarily.

Nigeria is currently faced with a situation, whereby 60 percent of all blood donations are from commercial donors and 30 percent from family replacement.

ONE of the secrets of living to a ripe old age is to prepare for it right from infancy and even while in the uterus during pregnancy.

A public health physician and Former Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Professor Muriel Ayodeji Oyediran, who gave this assertion, urged Nigerians to adopt the kind of lifestyle in their youth that would enable them live healthily in old age.

By Solaade Ayo-Aderele

Have you ever been around someone who sneezes on end, especially when they step into bright lights and you end up getting tired of saying “bless you” each time they sneeze, in addition to being worried about the implications for your health?

Well, the medical world has a name for the condition — it is called photic sneeze reflex.

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother — Lin Yutang

The desire to sustain and nurture human life is one of the most basic instincts of the female species. The ability to do this is made possible through a series of complex processes, beginning with ovulation, fertilisation, implantation, established pregnancy and eventually, labour and delivery.

Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, would today address Nigeria side event of the United Nation's Assembly for a presentation on his initiative at improving child and maternal health in the state popularly called Abiye.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, said this would be the third time that Mimiko would be making such presentation to world experts and governments.

By Ernest Chinwo

The Rivers State Government has said it spent about N100 billion on healthcare, including infrastructure and capacity building since Governor Chibuike Amaechi came into office in 2007.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sampson Parker, disclosed this, at the weekend, at an event organised at the Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH), Port Harcourt to appreciate ophthalmologists (eye specialists) from US-based Hospitals for Humanity, who performed successful surgeries with eyesight restored to about 200 glaucoma and cataract patients in collaboration with the state government at the weekend.

Healthcare Industry in Bondage of ---- Comrad Abdrafiu Alani Adeniji

By Francis Okeke

President of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives Comrade Abdrafiu Alani Adeniji speaks to Daily Trust on the seemingly intractable acrimony in Nigeria's health sector and how to end it. Excerpts:

For long now, there has been acrimony between doctors and other health workers, the problems seem to be intractable, tell us what these problems are and how to get a solution?

To my Darling Friends on Diets with Love

U.N. Director: Social Media Can End Violence Against Women

Indian Commission Plans to Assist Nigeria's Healthcare

By Taiwo Ogunmola-Omilani

Indian’s High commission to Nigeria, in association with Indian Ministry of Tourism and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is organising a four-day Healthcare Event in Nigeria aimed at strengthening the partnership in the healthcare sector between Nigeria and India.

The Director, Hospital Assist Nigeria Global Health Project and Resources consultant, Dr Adewale Alabi, disclosed that the event would be inaugurated by Mr Mahesh Sachdev, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria.

By Winifred Ogbebo

A number of countries have gone far in curbing the HIV/AIDS menace. Here in the country, government has intervened in several ways to curtail the spread of the disease and also care for those living with it. One of such ways was supposed to halt mother-to-child transmission of the disease. WINIFRED OGBEBO takes a critical look at the issue and expresses the fear that the country may have to live with the reality for some time.

Nigeria has the highest number of children contracting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the world, according to the United Nations.

Penile Amputation Secondary to Viagra Overdose

Man's Penis Gets Amputated After He Overdoses On Viagra To Impress His Girlfriend

Pregnant Women Advised against Patronizing Traditionalists and Spiritual homes

In a bid to prune down the rising figure of infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, a medical doctor at the General Hospital, Badagry in Lagos State, Dr. Afeez Muhammed, has warned pregnant women to desist from patronising traditional birth attendants, in order to put morbidity and fatality of children and mothers in check.

Speaking while addressing journalists in the ante-natal ward of the general hospital recently, Muhammed stated that Nigeria ranked as one of the top leading countries bedevilled with increased infant and maternal deaths. He also added that traditional birth attendants and religious leaders contribute to maternal and child mortality in the country by offering illegal counsels and health services.

The doctor also observed that most pregnant women and nursing mothers in Badagry and other sub-urban parts in Nigeria, erroneously attribute ailments they suffer during and after pregnancy to spiritual attacks. This, he said, hinders them from seeking medical attention from competent medical practitioners when it appeared they needed it most.

Sen. Helen Esuene, Chairman, Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Matters, says early marriage is a major setback to self actualisation of the girl-child.

Esuene expressed this concern on Saturday in Uyo, at the ongoing 18th Biennial Conference and General Assembly of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN).

The theme of the conference was "The girl child: reaching out and raising opportunities for health, empowerment and education".

She said that early marriage was a hydra-headed monster that deprived the girl-child of her childhood, health, future and sometimes her life.

"Child marriage serves no useful purpose in the society and should be discontinued," she advised.

Mustapha Ramanda Hammed

Five-year old Mustapha Ramanda Hammed is dying gradually he needs just N3.5million to urgently carry out a surgery to correct an abnormality in his heart, writes Seyi Nathaniel

Five –year old Mustapha Ramadan Hammed is lying critically ill at the children’s ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos. Little Mustapha has been off and on in that hospital in the last few months until two weeks ago when he was confined to a bed and placed on oxygen, pending when his parents will be able to raise about N3.5 million for an open heart surgery overseas to correct an abnormality in his heart.

By Aniebo Nwamu

Women are said to easily fall in love with doctors. I’m not a woman but I have many of them as friends. Perhaps it’s better to call them physicians. They include all health workers: lab scientists, nurses, pharmacists, dieticians, radiologists. All of us need the services of not just those who studied Medicine in the university. Luckily, they work hand in hand.

Every health-conscious person must have benefitted by association with health workers. Today, I’m sharing mine with my readers. I would have mentioned names and places – where to find good doctors. But doctors are warned to not advertise their services. In a way, however, they do: they allow their work and their patients to speak for them.

JANET not her real name, is the only child of her parents; a 13yearold student of St Gabriel Comprehensive high school; she was the junior prefect of her school due to her sweet and intelligent performance among her peers. She was loved by both the teachers and students because of her smartness, neatness, commitment and perseverance.

But with all these gifts endorsed by God to Janet, she lacked parental care; she is left alone to decide and to use her initiatives in doing things on her own either good or bad.

Her mother is not always around to look after her, most especially when she needed motherly care and advice. At the time Janet had her first menstrual period, their male house help (Jacob) was at home with her to give her the necessary care. But it turned out to be a sordid experience as Jacob took advantage of this growing little girl who has her whole future ahead of her.

Despite efforts initiated by the federal government to ease access to qualitative healthcare delivery in Nigeria, absence of realistic policy to assist indigent patients has continued to deny many Nigerians access to medical services. Uche Uduma visited some hospitals in Abuja and writes on the pains less privileged patients go through to access healthcare

Lying helplessly on her bed 19 years old Deborah John tossed and turned in pains, as if each turn would put her pains to a stop, however each toss sends a fresh wave of pains reverberating through her body. It was Deborah’s third day in one the female wards in Kuje General Hospital, yet she has not been able to access medical care. Deborah was diagnosed with Anemia and all she needed is 10,000 naira to get a blood transfusion, however her husband who couldn’t afford money to buy blood from the blood bank abandoned her at the hospital.

A TWO-DAY conference on Human Resources for Health (HRH) was held in Abuja during the week to review the state of universal health coverage in Nigeria, discuss the challenges of production, absorption, retention and distribution of health workers and also bring to fore the issues of HRH financing.

The conference brought together stakeholders in the sector from all the 36 states of the federation, some of who took turn to highlight achievements they had recorded in their respective states and the challenges they are facing in getting health personnel to man distinctive positions in hospitals and other health facilities.

What it is
Gastroenteritis is an infection of your gastrointestinal tract which includes the stomach and bowels. The infection leads to inflammation of these tissues. You can obtain the infection by eating or drinking foodstuff or liquids contaminated with bacteria, viruses or parasites or through contact with someone with the infection. The main symptoms are stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Symptoms usually begin one to two days after infection and can last from one day to over a week depending on which bacteria or virus you're exposed to. The main complication of gastroenteritis is dehydration. Babies, children and the aged are more susceptible to dehydration.

Professor Amos Gadzama is the immediate past President, Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) and a consultant chemical pathologist at the University of Maiduguri. In this interview by Sade Oguntola, he explains challenges before a virile health system and how to ensure health becomes the right of all Nigerians among other issues. Excerpts:

Medical tourism is an issue in Nigeria and how can it be stopped?

The cancer diagnostic centre being constructed by the Ekiti State government named Funmi Olayinka Cancer Diagnostic Centre, will become operational in October, the acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, has disclosed.

Dr Ogundipe, who made this known while briefing newsmen in Ado Ekiti said work on the Mammogram Centre built in memory of the late deputy governor of the state, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, who died of cancer, was about 60 per cent complete, pointing out that it would be ready in October.

Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu

Paul Obi

There are indications that only eight out of every 100 Nigerians had health coverage, implying that the country lags behind its target by 22 percent. This is barely two years before the end of 2015, set by the Presidency as the target to reach 30% of Nigerians with health insurance coverage.

KEHINDE OYETIMI reports on the progress made by pro-albinism campaign groups and the persisting cultural name-calling foisted on albinos.

HE enjoyed the preferences he was given as a child, from the toys that littered his room to the privacy of habituating in the make-believe world that surrounded him. When he was taken to gatherings, he revelled at the consistent gazes of both adults and the young. He would laugh and giggle at the rush to carry him by those he deemed his various admirers. He became accustomed to such. Even at religious gatherings, Buchi would usually wonder at the special attention as he sat among his peers at the children class. Buchi became boisterous as he grew from his toddler reality to his pre-teen years. Whenever his parents had guests and would not give him the needed attention he required, he would sidle to the sides of one of their guests and the effect was spontaneous. Everybody would exclaim

Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

The overuse of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture has long been known to foster the emergence of germs that are resistant to drugs. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the first solid numbers on the extent of the problem. It said that at least two million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant infections each year, of whom at least 23,000 die from the infections, a very conservative estimate.

Most people assume that a tomato is a fruit and some others regard it as a vegetable. But above all, experts say that tomatoes are definitely foods that contain a myriad of health benefits for the body, reports SADE OGUNTOLA.

TOMATOES are widely available, people of all ages and cultures like them, they are cost-effective, and are available in many forms. Tomatoes and tomato products are one of the most familiar vegetables in the many people’s diet. They are heaven on a burger and superstars in a sauce and a plate of rice served in the northern Nigeria is not complete when it is not garnished with slices of tomatoes and onion.

The Lagos State House of Assembly has warned that the state government will apprehend and prosecute any person or group of persons found hawking drugs on the streets.

Assemblyman Suru Avoseh, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, gave the warning in Lagos on Friday at the 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Lagos State Medicine Dealers Association.

By Usman A. Bello
Lokoja

About 30,000 people have so far benefited from the ongoing free medical services initiated by the kogi state government to improve the health condition of the people.

The Special Adviser to governor Idris Wada on free medicine and charity Yakubu Okatahi disclosed this yesterday at the Nagazi Hospital in Adavi local government area of the state where the free medical exercise is still on-going.

The Minister of Health tells the NHIS to adopt aggressive marketing

By Winifred Ogbebor - Leadership

The Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, has tasked the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to adopt aggressive marketing to extend health coverage to all Nigerians nationwide.

He said this became necessary following the poor coverage of Nigerians by the scheme, saying that three years before a target to reach 30 per cent of Nigerians with health insurance cover, only eight out of every 100 Nigerians have any sort of health cover.

Day of the Gunmen: How CMD, District Head met Tragic End

By Suzan Edeh -- Bauchi

August 31, 2013, will forever remain indelible in the memory of the staff and management of Federal Medical Centre, Azare in Bauchi State. It was on that day that the Chief Medical Director of the Centre, Dr. Musa Mohammed Dambam and the District Head of Yamai Village in Dambam Local Government Area, Alhaji Adamu Manu, were brutally killed by gunmen suspected to be hired assassins.

Dr. Musa Dambam, 55, was married with seven. He was the Director of the State Primary Health Care Agency before his last appointment as the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Azare.

Niger state Government has commenced the enforcement of arrest of those who refuse to allow their wards to receive the Wild Polio Vaccine with 102 persons so far arrested.

The Director of Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Shehu Yabagi said in an interview Tuesday in Minna that the state has sought to enforce the law already passed by the state assembly on refusal of polio vaccine.

A retired professor of public health, Prof. Muriel Oyediran has called on all tiers of government to provide conditions that promote quality of life for the elderly in Nigeria.

Oyediran gave this advice during her keynote address at a public lecture organized by the Faculty of Public Health, National Postgraduate Medical college of Nigeria, in Lagos.

At the programme tagged "Even Nigerians Grow Old: The Problems and Challenges of Ageing in

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on Thursday flagged off the State’s Residents’ Registration exercise urging residents in the State, irrespective of state of origin, to get involved in the exercise at any of the registration centres across the State.

The Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said lack of accurate statistical data in the health sector was responsible for the poor healthcare delivery in the country.

The governor said this during the convocation ceremony of the National Post-Graduate Medical College of Nigeria, Ijanikin, Lagos on Thursday.

Uduaghan, who was honoured with a Fellow of the medical college, noted that the country’s healthcare system may not develop if accurate data and information are not available.

HENCEFORTH, Delta State indigenes at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Ijanikin, Lagos, will enjoy sponsorship of their one-year residency training overseas to the tune of $20,000 per candidate.

Disclosing this at Ijanikin during his honourary fellowship award by the college at its 31st convocation yesterday, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said it had become necessary to support the institution and the Federal Government in efforts to produce well-skilled resident doctors, leveraging on international exposure available in the overseas training programme.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Karl Swann performed a cervical fusion operation at Victory Medical Center Landmark on Tuesday, September 17. Chisara Umezurike, an obstetrics and gynecology doctor in Nigeria who was unable to operate because of severe symptoms affecting his dominant arm and hand, was in need of a 3 level anterior cervical disc fusion.

Dr. Umezurike was referred to Dr. Swann by Dr. Fred Massey of San Antonio, who met Umezurike during mission work at the Little Mission Hospital in Nigeria. Dr. Umezurike serves more than a million people through the Little Mission Hospital, which is housed in old military barracks at the edge of the jungle in Onicha Ngwa, Nigeria. On average he delivers more than 800 babies a year. Dr. Umezurike has been in practice 21 years, and the disc fusion surgery will allow him to return to his practice, which is not limited to obstetrics, but includes all types of general surgery referred to him by other physicians.

An Ilorin Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a suspected fake doctor, Omololu Adebayo, for allegedly parading himself as a trained medical practitioner.

The 30-year-old was said to have been practising without requisite professional qualification since 2012.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the request of Rwanda to receive its Technical Aid Corps .

According to Director General of the Directorate of the Technical Aid Corp, Dr Pius Osunyikanmi more than 40 Nigerians in the health sector are working in Rwanda under the scheme.

Dr. Osunyikanmi made the disclosure on Wednesday, when he received the Ambassador of Rwanda to Nigeria, Mr Joseph Habineza, in his office in Abuja, said the decision to send more volunteers was based on a request made by the Rwanda to his office that it required Nigerian professionals in the education sector.

He said, "We have well over 40 volunteers in the health sector in Rwanda and let me place on record

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