Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha In recognition of its drive for excellence in the Nigerian Pharmaceutical industry, Fidson Healthcare Plc was recently rewarded for its outstanding performance in Human Resource Management with the award for “Best Employee Engagement Programme.” The award was given at this year’s edition of the HR Future Workplace Awards during the HR Summit and Expo for West Africa, 2018 which took place at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island Lagos. This award came only less than a week after the company bagged the PEARL award for ‘Sectoral Leadership in Healthcare-Pharmaceutical’ based on its performance in the Nigerian capital market. The Future Workplace Awards (2018), themed “Celebrating the Human Side of Business,” sought to recognise outstanding achievements of individuals, departments, teams and organisations that have contributed to the growth and development of the West African HR Industry. The events showcased the best HR talents in West Africa and also re

Chioma Umeha Lagos – In view of superior knowledge of drug composition and manifestation in the human body, pharmacists are demanding to be leaders in the handling of drugs and related decisions to end drug menace in the country. Speaking under the auspices of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), the pharmacists called for clearly defined boundaries of operations for Patent medicine vendors (PMVs) and other members of the healthcare delivery system such that pharmacists would act as their heads. Their demands came following a recent summit during which ACPN deliberated on a number of issues about the body, resolving that the role and rightful place of each health team player should be conceded to them and respected for the benefit of the general public. In the resolutions of the summit signed by Samuel Adekola, National Chairman, and Bose Idowu, National Secretary of the body respectively therefore counselled that access to drugs should be restricted an

Chioma Umeha  Phamatex Industries Limited, one of the leading manufacturers of pharmaceutical products in Nigeria has been named ‘Best Pharmaceutical Company of the Year’ by the Health Writers Association of Nigeria (HEWAN). According to the leadership of the association who organised the awards in collaboration with Maximpact Communications, the award was conferred on Phamatex because of its good manufacturing practices, quality products, availability and affordability of her products and investment in state-of-the-art manufacturing   plant and technology. The company’s ant-malarial, Lumapil, was also named, “Best Anti-malarial of the Year.” Receiving the awards on behalf of staff and management of Phamatex, Prince Christopher Nebe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer said,“ On behalf of Phamatex Group which comprises of Phamatex Industries    Ltd and Phamatex Nigeria Ltd, I express great delight and humbled by these awards and recognition from HEWAN. Phamatex is

Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has commended Pharmacist Ahmed Yakasai, immediate past President   of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) for his contributions especially in the fight against drug abuse and substandard regulated products. Prof. Moji C. Adeyeye, the Director General, NAFDAC represented by Pharm. Mohammed Shaba, the Head of NAFDAC, Kano office, penultimate weekend, gave him special NAFDAC recognition. The NAFDAC award came on the heels of   his recognition by His Royal Highness, Igwe Oranu Chris Chidume Eze Ana-Ukwu, Eze Igulube of Omor Kingdom for his selfless services to humanity via his numerous contributions to healthcare, public health development and capacity building in pharmacy. He conferred on him the chieftaincy title of Nwanne Di N’mba of Omor Kingdom” in Anambra State on Thursday, December 13, 2018 in the presence of His Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha. Other

....Insists, They Are Barriers To Women In Accessing Services Chioma Umeha After three days of brainstorming over barriers of women in accessing family planning (FP) services in the country, experts at the fifth biennial Nigeria Family Planning Conference (NFPC2018) demanded a review of policies and laws guiding FP services to reverse the trend. Making the demand at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, weekend, which began with a pre-conference event on December 3, with a focus on youth, women and faith-based entities, they said it is important to subject outdated policies and laws that limit access to family planning to judicial trials and pronouncements. The call was also contained in a communique issued after the main conference with the theme, “Investments, Innovation, Inclusiveness,’’ and held from December 4 – 6, with a total of 729 participants drawn from the 36 states of the federation including partners, donors and members of the International community. The partici

Chioma Umeha As the 2018 edition of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) Conference   draws near, the body has provided an opportunity for intending participants to register at the conference venue. This means that even though registration closed on the company’s website last week, participants who were not able to meet the online registration deadline, now have the chance to register physically at the venue of the conference. The ASLM Conference, scheduled to hold from December 10 to 13, 2018,   at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria, will play host to hundreds of delegates from across Africa.   The conference theme this year is; ‘Preventing and Controlling the Next Pandemic: The Role of the Laboratory’. This is the first time the conference will be held outside Cape Town, South Africa, where the first three editions were staged. The conference will be chaired by co-founder and the Executive Director of the International Research Centre of Excellence a

Chioma Umeha Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd has emerged best company in the ‘Good Health and Well-being category’ at the 12th SERAS Awards. The company was recognised for its Safe Birth Initiative (SBI) –   a partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals and an NGO, Medshare International Inc., that aims to tackle the high rate of maternal and newborn deaths in Nigeria. SBI is focused on supporting doctors and nurses to achieve successful birth outcomes by strengthening the capacity of target public hospitals in three critical areas. These include; procurement of vital maternal and neonatal medical equipment and supplies to enable safe deliveries and post-delivery emergency care. Others are; training biomedical engineering technicians to improve equipment maintenance and uptime; and reactivating a large stock of abandoned medical equipment wasting away in public hospitals. The first

Chioma Umeha To reduce maternal and child mortality in Nigeria, one of the Nigeria’s health insurance providers, Hygeia HMO, have entered into partnership with Audrey Pack Company Limited. The memorandum of understanding between the parties was signed in Lagos recently. When 800 women die in every 100,000 live births, it is clear that Nigeria has an unacceptably high maternal mortality rate. This problem and associated ones for pregnant women and new mothers need new approaches and collaborative solutions to address them. Announcing this partnership recently, Obinna Ukachukwu, Hygeia HMO’s Executive Head for Business Development & Strategy, said that its special plan which takes care of maternal needs was essential as a private-sector led initiative to improve the quality of healthcare that women get throughout their maternity experience. “Hygeia HMO has a long term goal to ensur e that the vast majority of Nigerians get covered by health insurance and this is an effe

Dr. Edmond Eddie Osagie is a United Kingdom based consultant on reproductive health care services of Aurora who is set to relocate to Nigeria to help women with pelvic pains, fibroids and miscarriages with advanced laparoscopic surgery to treat infertility without complications. In this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA he speaks on the technology and expertise he is bringing. Excerpts: What is passion as a reproductive medicine expert? I am a consultant and have lived in the UK for the past 25 years. I did my undergraduate medical training at the University of Benin where I graduated in 1985, but I came to the United Kingdom in 1993 to do my post graduate service in reproductive medicine and surgery. I have been working as a consultant here in Manchester for 15 years now and I have developed extensive reproductive medicine services. My desire now is to take some of the expertise back to Lagos, Nigeria, to help women who have reproductive issues and to help women with Endometriosi

Chioma Umeha Members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) Kano Chapter, has organised a reception in honour of Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the immediate past President of PSN to appreciate him   for his contributions to the advancement of pharmacy and health sector in the country. Yakasai who has just finished his term as the PSN President was elected in 2015. Speaking for PSN Kano Chapter, the trio of Pharm Bala Maikudi, the State Chairman of PSN, Pharm Murtala Umar, the Vice Chairman and Chairman organising committee and Pharm Sani Ali, the Secretary, noted that Yakasai has made indelible marks in the development of pharmacy and health industry. Specifically, they said, the immediate past PSN President has played significant roles toward improving drug distribution channel and ensuring the safety of medicines in compliance with the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG). These include the unveiling of pharmaceutical information technology onlin