Frontpage News (3249)
Zulum to engage 494 professionals in Borno hospitals, health centres
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Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has promised to employ 84 doctors and 410 nurses, midwives, and pharmacists to effectively run the state hospitals and health centres. According to him, 100 auxiliary staff are to be recruited to complement the efforts of doctors, nurses and midwives in these hospitals. While announcing the recruitment at the Government House, Maiduguri, Zulum said: “To provide affordable and quality healthcare delivery to citizens of Borno State, the government has approved the appointment of 365 nurses. About 50% of them are retired nurses engaged on a contract basis, while the remaining half are fresh graduates of the School of Nursing and Midwifery.”
He added that 84 doctors are also to be employed on a permanent basis, saying: “The other doctors to be engaged are on contract and sabbatical basis. This also includes the ones that will come to the state to work during their leave of absence.”
Addressing the doctors and nurses, he also approved the establishment of a foundation year programme in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
Nobel laureates say ‘political will’ needed to end COVID-19
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Technological advancements and international cooperation have accelerated scientific understanding of COVID-19 but it will take political will to end virus outbreaks, the new Nobel laureates in medicine said Monday. Americans Charles Rice of The Rockefeller University and Harvey Alter of the National Institutes of Health were honoured along with Briton Michael Houghton for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
In separate press conferences, the laureates noted how long it had taken them to achieve their results. “It is a long story, kind of a 50 years saga,” said 85-year-old Alter who began his research in the 1960s. But they added how technological improvements now meant quicker results. “There is a big difference between the 1970s and ’80s and now.
FG enlists 60,000 sanitary officers to monitor COVID-19 compliance in schools
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The Federal Government says it has deployed 60,000 Environmental Health Emergency Volunteers to enforce COVID-19 guidelines in schools across the 774 Local Government Areas of the country. The news is coming less than one week after schools were instructed to reopen on October 12. In his briefing on Monday in Abuja, monitored on Channels TV, Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, said the decision was reached after due consultations with stakeholders and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
He further explained that the deployment of the EHEVC became pertinent following concerns over post COVID–19 safety plans put in place by the Federal Government ahead of the reopening of schools.
The World Health Organisation on Monday said 10 countries in the world account for 70 per cent of all reported cases and deaths of COVID-19, and just three countries account for half. Speaking at the Executive Board special session on the COVID-19 response, WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there are now almost 35 million reported cases of COVID-19, and more than one million people are reported to have lost their lives.
He said although all countries have been affected by this virus, everyone must remember that this is an uneven pandemic. “10 countries account for 70 percent of all reported cases and deaths, and just 3 countries account for half. “Not all countries have responded the same way, and not all countries have been affected the same way.
The Federal Government has built a 100-bed Mother and Child Hospital in Ifon, Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, to address the high prevalence of maternal and child mortalities in Nigeria. Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sustainable Development Goals, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, made this known on Monday during the inauguration of the hospital in Ifon. Orelope-Adefulire said that the gesture was part of Buhari’s commitment to improve the healthcare and other sectors as well as life-skills development across the country.
According to her, the 17 SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end extreme poverty, safeguard the planet and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity by the year 2030. She explained that the Nigerian government had remained committed to the attainment of the global agenda, “which also aligns perfectly with the cardinal objectives of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration”.
COVID-19 can cause delirium, other mental health complications, says WHO
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A new survey by the World Health Organisation say the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted or halted critical mental health services in 93 percent of countries worldwide, while the demand for mental health is increasing. The survey of 130 countries provides the first global data showing the devastating impact of COVID-19 on access to mental health services and underscores the urgent need for increased funding. The survey was released ahead of the World Mental Health Day 2020, coming up on Saturday, October 10.
A statement made available to PUNCH HealthWise shows that WHO has previously highlighted the chronic underfunding of mental health, stating that, prior to the pandemic, countries were spending less than two percent of their national health budgets on mental health, and struggling to meet their populations’ needs.
COVID-19 may worsen child death in developing countries –World Bank
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The COVID-19 pandemic will likely drive up child mortality rates in developing countries, according to World Bank President, David Malpass. Malpass said this on Monday during a virtual discussion ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings next week.
“Our early estimates suggest a potential increase of up to 45 per cent in child mortality because of health service shortfalls and reduction in access to food,” he said. Malpass added that the World Bank estimates the increases in child mortality to persist in the coming years.
Seven years after, Abesan PHC still under construction
Written by Super User
Pregnant women use run-down latrine during an antenatal visit.
The building and the services it renders are in sharp contrast – The roof of the building is partially ruined, with the walls and the ground floor partly plastered; yet to residents of Low-Cost Housing Estate, Abesan, Ipaja, it is their lifesaver. Akinyele Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC), Abesan, besides being an uncompleted building, lacks the basic facilities of a healthcare centre. Interestingly, the construction of the PHC started in 2013, and it is yet to be completed seven years after.
The process for the construction started with an invitation to tender, advertised on May 20, 2013.
Anambra, Osun, three others named as states with efficient healthcare services
Written by Super User
A new study says Anambra, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, and Rivers states have the most efficient healthcare services in Nigeria. The study also rates Sokoto, Kebbi, Yobe, Bauchi and Niger states as the least performing states in healthcare services.
The study, published by a health technology company in Nigeria — the WellNewMe —added that the coronavirus global pandemic had brought to the fore the importance of having a strong health system, as many countries were faced with a unique challenge on how to best handle a novel disease that kills people around the world at a rapid rate.
There are conflicting reports and statements on different medicines used in the treatment of COVID-19 globally. In this report by SADE OGUNTOLA, experts say, however, it is the cocktail of medicines with promises for treatment which hopefully will be the key to President Trump’s recovery from COVID-19. On Friday, President Donald Trump, who has frequently dismissed the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic and rarely wears masks in public, announced that he had contracted the coronavirus and was quarantine.
Over the weekend, his medical team revealed that he had been put on a course of dexamethasone, which became the first drug scientifically proven in June to benefit people with COVID-19.The steroid is said to only work on severely ill coronavirus patients, who were on the verge of needing mechanical ventilation, sparking confusion about the true nature of the US President's condition.
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World Sight Day: 75% of visual problems avoidable, says Optometrist Association
Written by Super User
The association cautioned Nigerians against sharing their eyeglasses, face masks and face shields, as part of the precautionary measures against the spread of COVID-19, reminding that the pandemic was real. In a statement made available to Vanguard, the association’s Public Relations Officer, Dr. Emmanuel Okoye, explained that the WSD was an international day of awareness on avoidable blindness and visual impairment.
However, the optometrist lamented, activities lined up for its celebration were shelved because of the pandemic. The focus on this year’s WSD themed: “Universal Eye Health: Hope in sight, according to him, was to raise public awareness on eye care in the COVID-19 pandemic, as a major public health issue.
30% of Nigerians struggling with mental health disorder —Psychiatrist
Written by Super User
A psychiatrist says about 30 percent of Nigerians are grappling with different mental health challenges. He described mental health as a state of wellbeing in which an individual realises his potential and he is able to cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to his community.
In an exclusive interview with PUNCH HealthWise, Consultant Psychiatrist, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Dr. Dapo Adegbaju, said there must be a greater investment in mental health if Nigeria is serious about moving forward as a nation.
COVID-19: Roche sets to produce high-volume rapid test product
Written by Super User
Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche said on Tuesday it would produce a new antigen test for COVID-19, allowing high-volume and rapid testing for the deadly disease, by the end of the year. The new Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 Antigen test is meant to be administered by healthcare professionals in a lab setting and allows the detection of the virus that causes COVID-19 in as little as 18 minutes, Roche said.
It said the “highly accurate” tests could be run through all so-called Cobas analysing equipment that is available in most labs, and that a single such machine could analyse up to 300 tests per hour. “Being able to quickly and correctly identify if someone has a SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical to informing patient management decisions and containing the spread of COVID-19,” Thomas Schinecker, who heads Roche’s diagnostics unit, said in a statement.
The Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria says the Federal Government’s N512. 21 billion allocations to health in the 2021 Budget estimate cannot galvanise desired development in the sector.Dr. Makinde Akinlemibola, Chairman, Lagos State chapter of the association, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.
NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on October 8 presented N13.8 trillion as 2021 Budget estimate to a joint session of the National Assembly. The proposed allocation to the health sector in the budget was N512. 21 billion for both current and capital expenditure, and N35 billion for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
