Chioma Umeha

By Chioma Umeha The Federal Government plans to scale up maternal and child health outcomes has received a boost with the launch of the phase one programme of implementation of a 70 million Euro (23 billion naira) grant which is a support from the European Union (EU). The fund is also targeted to strengthen the country’s primary healthcare systems and eradicate the polio virus. The Project is the phase 1 – 70 million euro support from the EU to the health sector under the 11th European Development Fund. It will be jointly implemented by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria and the target States. The Federal Government in collaboration with EU, UNICEF and WHO signed the project in Abuja, on Thursday. The goal is to expand maternal and child health outcome in Bauchi, Adamawa and Kebbi States and also to strengthen health system in Anambra and Sokoto states respectively. 50 million euros of

Olumide Akintayo is the immediate past President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN). In this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA, he speaks on the challenges of leadership, inter-professional crises in the health sector and the way forward for effective healthcare management in Nigeria. Excerpts:   Health watchers have continued to complain of poor NHIS implementation. What is responsible for this? The original aim of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is to bring quality healthcare to the doorsteps of every Nigerian and above all, streamline the role and responsibilities of all healthcare providers. At the point of commencement, the medical doctors introduced in-house laboratory and pharmacy facilities and smuggled into the scheme global capitation where a doctor can carry out laboratory test and stock and dispense drugs without the intervention of the experts in that field. Doctors also issue and dispense same prescription especially, in the private he

By Chioma Umeha Plan International Nigeria, an international non-governmental organisation has called on the government of Lagos state to take ownership of its initiative for a coordinated ambulance system in the state. Dr Rita Akintola, A consultant for the initiative who made the call at an ambulance service coordination meeting over the weekend, stressed that the common man on the street deserves the same attention as the Governor when it comes to life saving services. Akintola said: “If all the local government have ambulances and operate separately, it amounts to a waste of resources. Developing a more effective and integrated emergency service has become paramount because once we get it right in Lagos, then others would say, it makes sense to adopt.” Under the existing framework, the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), a mobile health care service launched in 2001, is more restricted to road traffic accidents while Primary Health Care ambulance ar

By Chioma Umeha The Indian specialist hospital in Nigeria, Primus International Super Specialty Hospital is offering a free Health camp which began from February 13 and will end on February 25, at its hospital at Karu in the Federal Capital City. The hospital management said the decision for these free Health camp    is part of its corporate social responsibility to open its services and state of- the art equipments to Nigerian patients, majority of whom could not afford to go abroad. The Hospital’s Public Relations Officer, Alh Umaru Jibia, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja said, “ the free camp consultation was for the following departments, knee/hip/joint Replacement, neck and back pains, arthroscopy, minimal invasive orthopaedic, surgery, orthopaedic surgery, internal medicine, diabetes, hypertension and HIV, general surgery, laproscopic surgery. Others include, ophthalmology, physiotherapy, hemorrhoids, fistula/hernia,

By Chioma Umeha The recent trend of depression-induced suicide reached a new level in Nigeria weekend, when a doctor jumped off the Third Mainland bridge into the lagoon. The man reportedly ordered his driver to stop the vehicle, dashed out of the car, and made for the lagoon while his driver was still trying to come to terms with the sudden behaviour that had come over his otherwise calm boss. The report of the doctor’s suicide is the second report of such in under 42 hours after a final year student of the Ladoke Akinola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, committed suicide in the early hours of Saturday March 18. Also, a day after the 35-year-old medical doctor committed suicide by jumping into the lagoon at the Third Mainland Bridge, another of such incidents was recorded when a woman jumped into the lagoon in the Maza-Maza area of Lagos State. Though the unidentified woman was lucky as the timely intervention of local fishermen and divers in the area r

By Chioma Umeha There is hope for people with cancer as scientists have announced new advancement in its management using technology which can turn the often deadly disease into a chronic, but treatable condition. The new scientific findings confirmed that cancer can be cured through the technology machines such as cyberknife, tomotherapy, truebeam and many others. Commenting, Nagaraju Madhusudhan, a specialist in cancer treatment from HCG Cancer Hospital Bangalore, India, Cancer is not incurable condition; it is curable and controllable with the latest art of the technology machines such as cyberknife, tomotherapy, truebeam and many others. “In worst cases, it is controllable like in the case of diabetes and hypertension. Now, people can live with cancer, we can control and make the people to live longer. “So, it is not the end of life for anybody. We need to introduce the new type of equipments and drugs into Nigeria,” Dr. Madhusudhan said. To demonstra

By Chioma Umeha New research provides further evidence to suggest that sufficient vitamin D while pregnant can have health benefits for future children, with a recent Australian study suggesting that the vitamin could help prevent autism traits in offspring. Autism – or autism spectrum disorder – is a lifelong condition where sufferers experience developmental disabilities such as an inability to communicate with others, interact socially, or fully comprehend the world. In their animal study, a team of researchers from the University of Queensl and’s Queensland Brain Institute used the most widely accepted developmental model of autism, in which the mice behaved abnormally and demonstrated problems with social interaction and basic learning, an online report said Monday. The team of researchers gave the pregnant mice active vitamin D supplements, a nd found that pregnant females treated with active vitamin D in the equivalent of the first trimester of preg