Chioma Umeha

By Chioma Umeha To improve healthcare services, a lifestyle company has unveiled a telemedicine app, dokita247.com in Lagos recently. The app, which is expected to be freely available for every smart phone user in the country will reduce medical tourism, minimise consultation and treatment time between physicians and patients. Announcing this during its launch, Dr. Richard Afonja, the app developer, said the platform can be downloaded on google play store and apple store with any smart phone. Afonja added that there exist real, verified, credentialed and vetted physicians waiting to respond to all health diagnosis and treatment enquiries by patients using the app. “The app is presently being used in in the United States. By January 2018 it will be in effect in Nigeria, and we hope to spread this to other African countries very soon. “Using the app may extend the lifespan of Nigerians as they can seat in the comfort of their home and office for the cons

By Chioma Umeha Irregular or abnormal ovulation accounts for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of all cases of infertility. Having irregular periods, no periods, or abnormal bleeding often indicates that you are not ovulating, a condition known clinically as anovulation. Although anovulation can usually be treated with fertility drugs, it is important to be evaluated for other conditions that could interfere with ovulation, such as thyroid conditions or abnormalities of the adrenal or pituitary glands. Once your doctor has ruled out other medical conditions, he or she may prescribe fertility drugs to stimulate your ovulation. The drug contained in both Clomid and Serophene (clomiphene) is often a first choice because it’s effective and has been prescribed to women for decades. Unlike many infertility drugs, it also has the advantage of being taken orally instead of by injection. It is used to induce ovulation and to correct irregular ovulation by increasing egg recr

Mr. Olumide Akintayo, immediate past president pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), (left); Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai,PSN President; Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Governor Abia State, during a courtesy call to the Governor in Government House Umuahia for the 90th annual national conference of the society, ‘Abia 2017’ on Monday. By Chioma Umeha Pharmacists under the auspices of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have stressed the need for the country to achieve self-sufficiency in pharmaceutical production. They noted that this will remove Nigeria from the list of countries that have become dump sites for fake drugs. Speaking for pharmacists was Ahmed Yakasai, President of PSN who spoke at the society’s 90th annual week-long national conference in Umuahia, Abia state which started Monday. Yakasai said that PSN is at the vanguard of ensuring that the country emerge self-sufficiency in medicine production so as to contribute to the nation

Chioma Umeha The Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole has debunked rumours that the Federal government has ran out of stock of the anti-snake venom for the treatment of snake bite victims. Reacting to the report of the death of 91 people as a result of snake bite in Gombe and Plateau Sta te within three weeks, the Health Minister said the Ministry still has some vials of Anti-snake venom stocked in the Federal Ministry of Health, from the 2016 procurement from which States and other treatment centres were issued upon request. “The States in questions, have refused to comply with the new procedure of request, hence their inability to access the product from the ministry,”   he stated. So far, five states have made a request and have been issued for the treatment of victims in the last four months, the last was on September 6, 2017. Prof. Adewole however expressed some apprehension that this year’s procurement may have some hitches because the funding was m

Chioma Umeha Experts have stressed the need for the Federal Government to restore free baseline evaluations, noting that this will promote effective access to Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for People Living With HIV (PLWH). Some of the experts who spoke were those from the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NASCAP). They were making presentations at the opening of a two-day communication strategic review workshop by Journalists Alliance for Prevention of Mother to Child transmission of HIV (JAPiN) in Lagos state, recently. According to them, the goals of the initial evaluation are to confirm the diagnosis of HIV infection, obtain appropriate baseline historical and laboratory data, ensure PLWH understanding about HIV infection and its transmission. Others are to initiate care as recommended in HIV primary care guidelines and guidelines for prevention and treatment of HIV-associated opportunistic infections. Research has shown that every HIV-infected pers

By Chioma Umeha A woman’s uterus is the size of a clenched fist but can grow as big as a soccer ball or larger during pregnancy. In addition to pregnancy, there are many other reasons why a woman’s uterus may become enlarged. An enlarged uterus can be the result of a medical condition that not only causes it to grow but also to bleed and become painful. A condition that results in an enlarged uterus may require treatment. Causes A woman can be unaware that she has an enlarged uterus. Most often, women discover they have a problem during a pelvic exam. It is possible a woman may notice a bloated belly or that clothes seem too tight, but for most, a diagnosis of an enlarged uterus is unexpected. There are multiple reasons why the uterus may become enlarged. An enlarged uterus may be more common in menopausal women, but women in their childbearing years can develop this condition too. Fibroids Fibroids are one of the most common causes of an enlarged uteru

As part of its social responsibilities to sustainable initiatives, investing in the future of local communities and the environment, PZ Wilmar, maker of vegetable oil Brand, Mamador and Devon King’s cooking oil, has joined in the sponsorship of the 2017 edition of the annual Walk for Nature (WFN) event. The goal, according to the   to the vegetable oil company is to demonstrate the importance of healthy living and the conservation of nature. The Walk for Nature event themed, “Cleaner Lagos which was jointly organised by the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) held recently, in Lagos. During the occasion, the foundation for sustainable ecotourism urged participants to imbibe and cultivate good environmental practices for nature conservation and sustainable environmental management. Acknowledging the support from partners such as PZ Wilmar, Commissioner for Environment Lagos State, Samuel Babatunde Adejare in a

The Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Science and Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) Thursday announced three research works as joint winners for the 2017 edition of the prize after two years intensive search for innovations in the fight to end Malaria. The award comes with a cash prize of $100, 000. The announcement was made by the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Science Prize, Professor Akpoveta Susu at a press conference in Lagos. “Improving Home and Community Management of Malaria: Providing the Evidence Base” by Ikeoluwapo Ajayi, Ayodele Jegede & Bidemi Yusuf; “Multifaceted Efforts at Malaria Control in Research: Management of Malaria of Various Grades and Mapping Artemisinin Resistance” by Olugbenga Mokuolu; and “Novel lipid microparticles for effective delivery of Artemether antimalarial drug using a locally-sourced Irvingia fat from nuts of Irvingia gabonensis var excelsa (ogbono)” by Chukwuma Agubata were announced as the winning research work

Chioma Umeha From January 2018, Nigerians will have access to doctors all over the world via a telemedicine mobile app expected to be freely available for all users next year. Speaking at the launch of the Dokita247.com app at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos on Tuesday, Dr Richard Afonja, the app developer, said the mobile app will reduce medical tourism as well as the number of hours spent at hospitals across the country. The app, he said, will give also Nigerians access to specialists, who hitherto take weeks and months before they could be seen or reached physically. According to Dr. Afonja,   the app which can be downloaded on Google Playstore and Apple store, is currently in use in the United States of America but will be available in other African countries later this year. He added that using the app may extend the lifespan of Nigerians as they can seat in the comfort of their home and office for the consultation, laboratory tests and drug prescription

By Chioma Umeha Research shows that effective population control measures are the need of the moment. Studies   have also confirmed that birth rate is mainly responsible for rapid population growth, hence experts have endorsed family planning as one of the most effective measures to reduce birth rate. CHIOMA UMEHA writes. Worried by stock-out of contraceptive commodities and consumables, experts at the Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA) 2020, a recent family planning (FP) review, advocated increased funding for FP by state governments. In view of high incidence of unplanned pregnancies, Funmi Olaolorun, the Co-Principal Investigator, PMA 2020, stressed that increased funding by state governments would   tackle   stock-out of contraceptive commodities and consumables in many states. According to Olaolorun, many women who are unable to access contraceptives at the FP clinics end up with unintended pregnancies following commodities out-of-stock.