Frontpage News (3249)
Oyo state unveils N100-monthly premium health insurance scheme
Written by Super User
The government of Oyo state has unveiled its health insurance scheme which aims to provide health coverage for citizens of the state, thus making qualitative healthcare accessible to everyone.A statement made available to HealthNewsNG by the state government revealed that under the scheme, citizens will only pay N100 monthly premium. “Residents will have access to various options of medical care including drug provision,” the statement read.
More Nigerian doctors are applying for US residency program
Written by Super User
Over the years, it has been revealed that more Nigerian doctors are interested in the US residency program. Media events company, Pocket Presents, in a statement said the program has become highly competitive with more international applicants competing for space. It said: “The quest to “become a doctor” in the US has been driven by several things such as the quality of the residency program, access to better funding for research, access to better medical facilities, and the importance the US government and private organizations have placed on ensuring the US is at the forefront of medical research and development in the world.”
The growth in the number of applicants is being fueled not just by larger graduating classes at traditional medical schools but also a rising number of osteopathic medical school graduates as well as U.S. and foreign citizens that graduate from medical schools in the Caribbean and other countries.
One month and twenty days after it was declared Ebola free by the World Health Organization (WHO), Liberia reported another case of Ebola virus disease…
Mr. Tolbert Nyenswah, Deputy Minister – designate for Disease, Surveillance and Epidemic Control confirmed to FrontPageAfrica Monday evening that the case was discovered after the death of the victim. Nyenswah who heads Liberia Incidence Management Team during the Ebola outbreak confirmed that the reported case of the deadly Ebola virus was only detected from specimen taken from the corpse of a dead body. Nyenswah confirmed that specimen from a 17-year old corpse from the village of Nedowian in Margibi County taken before burial tested positive twice and the county surveillance team has increased work in the affected area.
100,000 people now have access to quality care in Kwara, Nigeria
Written by Super User
New milestone for the Kwara State Health Insurance Program
ILORIN, NIGERIA – 27 May 2015 In Kwara State, Nigeria, a state-supported health insurance program is improving access to quality healthcare for low-income people in one of Nigeria’s poorest states. The Kwara State Health Insurance Program recently welcomed its 100,000th enrollee: an important milestone for the program but also an indication that this public-private model of healthcare delivery could be a game changer on the road to universal health coverage. After all, what is working for 100,000 people in Kwara could potentially work for millions.
When the Kwara State Government, Hygeia Community Health Care, the Health Insurance Fund and PharmAccess joined forces in a public-private partnership and set up the Kwara State Health Insurance Program in 2007, the people of Kwara had little to no access to quality healthcare.
WHO urges Nigerian investors to explore opportunities in providing healthcare for elderly
Written by Super User
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday urged Nigerian investors to explore the opportunities that abound in catering for the elderly by establishing homes and clinics for the aged. The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Rui Vaz, gave the advice in Abuja while answering questions from newsmen on the sideline of a two-day consultative meeting on Capacity Building for Masters Programme in Geriatrics Medicine in Selected Nigerian Universities.
“There can be private establishments which cater for older people; if you go to Europe at the moment, its big business. “People who have their pensions, who have got a bit of money, most of them live in homes because they cannot be catered for at home. “Also clinics – a clinic that specialises in elderly people would serve its purpose by making its services available for the elderly group. “It is not very apparent now but in future, we are seeing that we are growing older, we are staying longer and also the problems of the elderly will become more prominent when we deal with these preventable diseases. “Now we will have diseases – not like malaria or diarrhoea – but things like diabetes or heart failure or things like that that come in as we grow old.“
First of all, colon cancer is among the most common cancer types worldwide.Colon cancer is best characterized as the presence and development of cancer cells in the tissue of the intestines, namely the colon and the rectum; both involved in the lower digestive system. Malignant cancer cells develop in bunches known as polyps, which risks spreading cancer cells to distant parts of the body. In order to prevent malignancy, medical professionals emphasize the importance and benefit of early diagnosis and beginning treatment as soon as possible to sustain the best possible conditions for full recovery and return to normal life.
Lagos urges ‘highest possible hygiene standards’ to prevent Ebola resurgence
Written by Super User
FOLLOWING reported resurgence of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in some neigbouring West African countries, including Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Lagos State government has asked residents to maintain adequate personal and environmental hygiene at all times to prevent re-entry of the disease into the state and the country at large. A report by Agence France Presse (AFP) confirmed yesterday that two more cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Liberia. A teenager was reported to have died from the viral infection on Sunday in Liberia.
Liberia had been declared Ebola-free more than seven weeks ago, just like Nigeria was declared free in October 2014. Liberia Ministry of Information said the two new cases were in Nedowein, the same village where the teenager died. Liberia’s authorities quarantined the area after the boy’s death and said his funeral was carried out safely. Health official, Cestus Tarpeh, told AFP that the pair had been in physical contact with the 17 year old before his death. He added that a herbalist who had treated the boy had evaded the authorities and was on the run. It is not clear how the teenager who died was infected.
It was gathered that Nigeria receives about $450 million every year from the US in form of health aid. This was disclosed by Michael Harvey USAID/Nigeria mission director. He said this while answering questions at the Targeted States High Impact Project (TSHIP) end of project information dissemination meeting in Sokoto. According to him, USA has great concern for health issues in Nigeria and in the northern Nigeria in particular. He said they are celebrating the lives saved, the healthier households built and the durable bonds established between the states in which they carried out interventions.
He also stated that, USAID through TSHIP has spent $89m in Sokoto and Bauchi states from 2009 to 2015.
Philips improves maternal and child care in Nigeria, overhauls primary healthcare center
Marking it’s sixth consecutive Cape Town to Cairo roadshow, Philips in collaboration with Ori Iyanrin Primary Healthcare Center unveiled an extensive overhaul and refurbishment of the mother and child care facilities at the Healthcare Centre. Philips upgraded the facilities in the labour, paediatric and new born baby wards, designing them to support the well-being and recovery of expectant mothers and their new born babies. It is anticipated that over time, as a result of this pioneering project, many lives will also be saved.
The Healthcare Center, located in Iru/Victoria Island, LCDA, Lagos, has a very high patient in-flow with an average of 300-400 outpatients per month, as well as 30-40 follow up appointments per week. The Healthcare Center records an average of twenty (20) births per month. The labour, pediatric and new born units in the Healthcare Center prior to the refurbishment were in need of an upgrade.
Fidson Healthcare Wins 2014 Frost & Sullivan Growth Excellence Awards
Written by Super User
Based on its recent performance in the Nigerian pharmaceutical Industry, Fidson Healthcare PLC has emerged winner of the 2014 Nigerian Frost & Sullivan Award for Growth Excellence Leadership. This was contained in a press statement made available by the company. According to the statement, the award ceremony held in United Kingdom on May 14, 2015, recognizes Fidson’s definitive vision and strong management, which stoked a growth rate of 26 percent in 2013, cementing its leadership in the Nigerian pharmaceutical market.
According to Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Danielle de la Mare, the Nigerian pharmaceutical market was estimated to be approximately US$1.19 billion in 2013, with year-on-year growth of 12 percent. Fidson’s audited report for the same period shows revenue growth of 29 percent, from N7.2bn in 2012 to N9.2bn in 2013. Fidson grew its gross profit by 26 percent, from N4.1bn in 2012 to N5.1bn to 2013, while its operating profit increased by 60 percent and operating margin by 3 percent.
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After recorded success in monkeys, some African countries are hosting HIV vaccine trials. The success of an experimental vaccine trial with rhesus monkeys is motivating a pharmaceutical company to undertake experimental HIV vaccine tests in Thailand, East and South Africa, and the United States of America US, with 400 healthy participants taking part in the first phase of the trials.
Scientists say the vaccine protected half of a batch of monkeys against the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, SIV, which is very similar to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.This development came to light just as a former researcher at Iowa State University, was jailed for fraudulently securing millions in funds for further research on a potential vaccine for HIV that turned out to be fake.
How fake doctor deceived us for nine years, by Health Ministry
Written by Super User
THE Federal Ministry of Health yesterday said the fake doctor paraded by the police on Tuesday was recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commission and posted to the ministry. The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Linus Awute, told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that the ministry would demand a refund of the salaries and allowances paid the ‘doctor’ in the past nine years. According to him: “It is important to place it on record that the Federal Ministry of Health does not employ any of its members of staff directly.
“He was recruited through the Federal Civil Service Commission which has the statutory powers to do so and then deploys such employed civil servants to any ministry, department or agency according to their discipline and relevance.”
Police arrest ex-NMA chairman, says he’s a fake doctor
Written by Super User
For nine years, he threw away his true identity, bearing his friend’s name, from whom he allegedly stole copies of the academic credentials with certificates and got employed at the Federal Ministry of Health, became the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) branch chairman, participated as Ebola volunteer and earned salaries until the long arms of the law caught up with him.
Martins Ugwu Okpeh, a native of Ogbadibo Local Government of Benue State in 2006 was the best man to his childhood friend, Dr. George Davidson, a medical doctor practising in Jos, when he allegedly stole the academic credentials and used same to secure employment at the federal ministry. According to the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Abayomi Shogunle, an anonymous petition from the ministry prompted the Police analytical tracking and interception centre to begin discreet investigation.
Buhari Should Unlock Market Potential Of Health Sector- Pate
Written by Super User
President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to unlock the market potential of the health sector to boost health tourism within the country. The call was made by former minister of State for Health, Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria, adding that the private sector can play a decisive role in improving healthcare delivery. In an interview with Financial Nigeria Magazine in New York on Thursday, made available to LEADERSHIP on Thurday in Abuja, Pate, an Adjunct Professor at the Duke Global Health Institute, and an expert in tropical Medicine and infectious disease , said there are private sector resources potentially out there that can be harnessed.
He said, ” We know that several entities are looking at the potentially exciting role of private equity in Nigeria’s health sector development.” Pate said beyond increasing revenues, the new administration can also reduce the significant inefficiencies and wastage in the health sector as part of its whole-of-government national anti-corruption efforts.
