Reports of people developing blood clot after receiving certain brands of COVID-19 vaccines has continued to make the headlines. So far, some people had developed blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, leading to the suspension or limiting use of AstraZeneca vaccine in many countries.

Last week, the head of the European Medicines Agency’s vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said there was a link between the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and a rare blood clot in the brain.

United States federal health agencies, yesterday, recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for at least a few days after six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot, dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) said it would delay rollout of the vaccine to Europe, a week after regulators there said they were reviewing rare blood clots in four recipients of the shot in the United States. J&J only began delivering its COVID-19 vaccine to European Union countries this week.

For an enduring resolution of the grievances of the resident doctors in the country, the leadership of the House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

The medics recently suspended their 10-day industrial action they began on April 1, 2021 for four weeks after striking a pact with the Federal Government. The parley, by the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber, Femi Gbajabiamila, holds next week.

Fertility expert, Dr. Uchenna Ayogu, says the prevalence of eclampsia death in pregnancy is mostly due to unhealthy lifestyle. Ayogu, who is the Chief Medical Director, St. Stephen Specialist Hospital, Achara Layout, Enugu, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Tuesday.

NAN reports that eclampsia is a condition in which one or more convulsions occur in a pregnant woman suffering from high blood pressure, often followed by coma and posing a threat to the health of mother and baby.

A psychiatrist at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Dr. McEdwards Nworie, has said that proper management of life’s challenges could help to reduce depression and stress. Nworie, who gave the assertion while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Lagos, said that depression and stress are common and serious mental illnesses that negatively affect the way people feel, think and act.

He said that stress is a risk factor for depression and mental health problems which could lead to suicide. Nworie, also the General Secretary, Association of Resident Doctors in the hospital, said that mental health problems are among the most important contributors to the burden of disease and disability worldwide.

Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, says the country’s healthcare is being challenged by COVID-19 pandemic. Abdulkareem made the observation while speaking at the 36th Professional Initiation ceremony for the Batch B 2020 medical graduands of the College of Health Sciences, held at the institution on Monday.

According to him, at the height of the pandemic, the number of front-liners was not adequate to cope with the number of patients, “Our nation’s healthcare delivery is seriously challenged with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis overstretched our healthcare facilities and exposes the weak link in our delivery system.

The management of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, has revealed that out of the about 200 of its health workers that were infected with COVID-19, no less than four had died. The tertiary hospital said among those killed by the global pandemic were two consultants and a senior matron. It didn’t state the category of the fourth worker who also died of the disease.

The hospital stated this in a series of tweets while responding to a chartered accountant, Kunle Enitan’s tweet about how his critically-ill mother was initially refused admission by LASUTH, until the Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, intervened.

Authorities of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital have explained why every patient seeking treatment in the hospital may not be accepted. The hospital management spoke in reaction to the complaint of a man who said that his sick mother waited for four hours before LASUTH could accept her for treatment.

A chartered accountant, Mr. Kunle Enitan, had narrated how his ailing mother was made to wait for four hours at LASUTH, with no doctor or nurse. According to the tax expert in a tweet via his Twitter handle @kunleenitan on Sunday, his mother was referred to the tertiary hospital from Unita Hospital as an emergency case.

Consultant Radiologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Dr. Caleb Yakubu, says the kind of cancers that physicians see in Nigeria are the very aggressive types. He noted that Africa is now witnessing a rise in cases of colon cancer following increased consumption of refined carbohydrates among its population.

Yakubu said that exposure to injurious substances and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle predispose people to cancer. The radiologist, who is the coordinator, One Stop Breast Clinic, LUTH, told PUNCH HealthWise in an interview that in the past, Africans do not come down with colon cancer because they fed mainly on their local foods that were nutrient-dense.

Medical experts say there is no scientific basis for the collection of placenta, revealing that many doctors have been harassed by family members of women who delivered in their hospitals for not being able to account for the placenta.

According to them, the collection of placenta by family members of a woman who gives birth is just a cultural thing and has nothing to do with medicine. Speaking in an interview with PUNCH HealthWise, one of the experts, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. Joseph Akinde, says some family members are so crazy about the placenta to the point that they can sue the doctor if he fails to provide it after delivery.