The Managing Director of West Africa Health Organisation, Prof. Stanley Okolo, has warned that the efforts against coronavirus and other communicable and non-communicable diseases could be jeopardised with the circulation of substandard drugs in the markets.

Okolo spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during the African Medicines Quality Forum, organised by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control and other partners, which had theme, ‘2020: Perfect vision for quality medicines in Africa.’

The World Health Organisation has said that, so far, there is no specific medicine recommended for the prevention or treatment of the new coronavirus, a.k.a 2019-nCoV.

The global health body also warns that vaccines that are usually used in the treatment of pneumonia, such as pneumococcal vaccine and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine, do not provide protection against the new coronavirus. PUNCH HealthWise, quoting the World Health Organisation in a publication entitled ‘Advice for public,’ reported that the coronavirus is so new and different that it needs its own vaccine.

Results of the Chinese citizen who underwent a test at Reddington Hospital, Ikeja on the suspicion of being infected with Coronavirus have proven negative, the Lagos State Government has announced.

Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, in a statement on Thursday, informed the test was carried out on Wednesday. According to him: “The likelihood of COVID-19 infection in this particular patient was very low and the conclusion of investigations and sophisticated testing confirmed that no case of Coronavirus exists in Lagos State till date.” 

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed commissioned the training and administrative building at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Cancer Centre in Lagos to support an enabling environment where medical professionals can receive training. 

Speaking during the launch of the project, which the NSIA in partnership with LUTH undertook the conceptualisation, development and establishment, Ahmed said the high technology investment

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) Wednesday lamented the low enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The ACPN called for rejection of the obnoxious global capitation mode embraced by the NHIS which pharmacists said “has stifled its coverage potentials such that the 6% coverage at inception in 2006 has now dipped to under 2% (1.72%) in the last 3 years.”

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the two-day working visit by the National Executive Council of the ACPN to Ondo State.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO, Regional Director for Africa, has urged all countries in the region to prepare for Coronavirus (COVID-19) as second case has been confirmed.

Moeti who made the call in her twitter handle @Moeti Tshidi said Algeria had just announced the first case of COVID-19. This follows Africa’s first COVID-19 case which was reported earlier in February in Egypt. Algeria is one of the 47 countries in WHO African region. Algeria’s health ministry reported the country’s first case of the virus after tests indicated that an Italian man who arrived in the country

The Deputy Senate Leader, Ajayi Boroffice, has lamented Nigeria’s poor preventive measures towards Covid-19 (coronavirus). The lawmaker, who raised a point of order during plenary on Thursday, narrated his experience on a recent trip to South Africa. He said the country has already adopted more preventive measures compared to Nigeria.

“When we arrived (at) the airport in South Africa, we were not allowed to exit the aircraft for good 30 minutes. Officers of the medical corps of the South African army came into the aircraft and screened everybody before we were allowed to go out.

The House of Representatives has raised concerns about  a spate of substandard drugs being imported into Nigeria. The House also said  coronavirus outbreak  was  a threat to local  drug production. 

At the plenary on Tuesday, the House mandated the Committees on Health Institutions, Health Care Services, and Science and Technology to organise a roundtable to “chart a probable course for the development of locally-made drugs.” The House also urged the Federal Government to invest more in the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development to encourage local and indigenous research, as well as to revisit the National Drug Policy

The  University College Hospital, Ibadan,  has said  it has begun the training of no fewer than 200 workers  to help stop  the spread of coronavirus in the country. The Chief Medical Director, UCH, Prof. Jesse  Otegbayo, said the hospital had been on the red alert since the outbreak of coronavirus. 

Coronavirus, which was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019, has killed  at least 2,868 people globally. Otegbayo said, “On Friday, I signed about 200 certificates of training. We are training our staff in batches  to curtail the infection and on what coronavirus is about.

Medical experts have warned that there may be shortage of essential drugs and medical supplies in the country due to the global spread of Coronavirus. 

They, however, said the development of the petrochemical sector would have prevented over-dependence on imported raw materials for local production of drugs, adding that about 90 percent of materials needed to produce medicines locally were sourced from petrochemicals and plants.