Child health specialists have condemned harmful cultural practices where unsterilised instruments are used to sever umbilical cord of newborns, saying such practices expose babies to risk of infection. 

The pediatricians say in some cultures in some parts of the country, after cutting the umbilical cord, caregivers don’t even tie the cord, thereby exposing the baby to bleeding. According to the physicians, many babies have bled to death after cutting the umbilical cord. 

Many states across Nigeria have Flaged-off COVID19 vaccination; prioritizing frontline health workers in the first phase of the exercise but the big question is: Can you drink after you get your vaccine? Can you drink between doses? Should you wait to drink until after your last shot? If so, for how long should you wait?

The CDC’s guidelines for vaccine side effects include pain, nausea, muscle pain and headache, among others. The agency doesn’t include any advisories against alcohol use.

A paediatrician, Dr. Nuhu Sule, has advised parents to limit their children’s consumption of sugary foods and beverages to avoid diabetes. Sule gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna on Wednesday. He said that sugary foods and beverages such as sodas, juice, iced teas and others contribute to excessive weight gain, which can lead to diabetes.

Sule, therefore, urged parents to provide healthy diet for their children. “Feed and encourage your child to eat low-fat, nutrient-rich foods such as fruit, vegetables, whole-grain cereals and breads, dairy products, and lean proteins.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has called for concerted efforts towards developing COVID-19 vaccine locally. He stated that vaccine production has become a necessity for almost every country, urging Nigeria to create an enabling environment and allocate resources for its production.

Lawan warned that failure to produce the vaccines in Nigeria, herd immunity may not be achieved in the next five years. The Senate President made the call at the presentation of a report by the Young Parliamentarians Forum of the 9th National Assembly and supported by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in Abuja on Wednesday.

Physicians have decried the acute shortage of safe blood and blood products in the country, revealing that this had led to the deaths of many patients, especially now that insecurity has increased the demand for blood.

The physicians who spoke with our correspondent stated that as bad as the situation is, they sometimes donate blood, of their own volition, to their sick patients in their bid to keep such patients alive.

A former first Vice-President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Julian Ojebo, says resident doctors decided to embark on an industrial strike on April 1 [today] following the deadlocked meetings with the Federal Government.

Ojebo, who is also a Specialist Registrar/Associate Fellow in Anaesthesia & Critical Care at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo State, spoke on Morning Crossfire, a live radio programme on Nigeria Info, on Thursday [today]. 

The Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Ojo, Lagos, says it has not recorded any adverse effect from people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in its facility. Head of Public Health Department at the NNRH, Dr. Munirat Afolayan, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos.

The hospital began the vaccination programme on March 15. Afolayan said that the hospital initiates follow-up on patients immediately after they are vaccinated, in order to observe if there would be adverse reactions. 

The Public Relations Officer of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Mr. Toye Akinnola, says the tertiary institution’s water supply has been disrupted by the ongoing renovation work.

Akinnola said that some of the pipes carrying water into the hospital were laid since the hospital was established in 1953, and they had never been changed, adding that the pipes buried underground were being removed and replaced.

A former first Vice-President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Julian Ojebo, says none of the government-owned health institutions at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

According to him, the only MRI at the National Hospital, Abuja, is operated under a private partnership. 

Following the failure of Federal Government to meet the 13-point demand of doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Gombe State ARD branch, on Thursday, joined the indefinite industrial action called by it national body.

Speaking on the impact of the hours-old strike, Chief Medical Director at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Dr. Abdullahi Yusuf, said consultants from across various fields had been drafted to the emergency unit to ensure smooth running of the department.