Frontpage News (3257)
Stakeholders in the health sector, led by the Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria (HMCAN), have condemned the reinstatement of suspended Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Usman Yusuf.They accused President Muhammadu Buhari of preferring ethnicity to competence and ignoring the report of a panel that indicted and suspended Yusuf over an alleged N919 million fraud.
Kogi Doctors Strike Hits One Month, as NMA Warns of Possible Brain Drain
As the industrial action embarked upon by medical doctors in Kogi state hits one month on Wednesday, the Nigeria Medical Association, has urged the State Government to do the needful by meeting their demands to avoid brain drain that has already started in the health sector.
NMA in Kogi had on Sunday, Jan. 7, directed its members to resume strike over an alleged failure by the state government to meet their demands.
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has called on the National Assembly to pass into law the bill establishing the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC. “This will go a long way in fighting the rapid spread of disease outbreaks in the country, especially Lassa fever,” the NMA President, Mike Ogirima, told us in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Last November, the Chairman, Senate committee on primary health care and communicable diseases, Mao Ohuabunwa, said a bill for an Act to establish NCDC will be passed by the National Assembly before the end of 2017.
The World Health Organization, ( WHO ) has provided medicines for students of Primary and Junior Secondary schools in Oyo State to cure tropical diseases like worms that are endemic in the country.
The distribution of the medicines were made available during a flag off of School based deworming exercise in Ibadan on Wednesday by the Ministry of Health and Education, Science and Technology in conjunction with Evidence Action, the facilitator and partner of WHO.
Doctors in Private Sector Decry Exclusion from Government Reform Plan
Medical professionas in the private health sector have decried lack of government support as well as exclusion from its reform plans. This was disclosed at the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN), Annual State Executive Council Workshop, in partnership with developmental partners.
The medical professional stated that despite the huge contribution of about 60 to 70 percent from the private sector organisations to the health system in Nigeria, government has refused to render its support or create an enabling environment for the sector to thrive.
As part of efforts to contain an outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria that has infected up to 450 people in 17 states within five weeks, the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Tuesday, announced it is scaling up its response to the outbreak.
The WHO, in a statement, said between January 1 and February 4, nearly 450 suspected cases were reported, of which 132 are laboratory confirmed Lassa fever. Of these, 43 deaths were reported, including 37 that were lab confirmed.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has inducted 249 foreign trained medical and dental graduates. A total of 686 medical and 10 dental candidates registered for the MDCN assessment examination, out of which 243 medical and six dental surgeons passed.
This represents 35 percent success for the medical and 60 percent success for the dental, making the overall success rate 35.7 percent.
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday handed over a Mobile Cancer Centre for the diagnosis and treatment of residents afflicted with cancer-related diseases as well as increase advocacy to prevent the spread of the scourge.
Governor Akinwumi Ambode, who spoke while handing over the facility to the representatives of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), a nongovernmental organisation in the forefront of cancer awareness, at the Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja, said it was in fulfillment of a promise he made in June 2016 to join the fight against cancer.
EXCLUSIVE: How probe panel found NHIS’ Usman Yusuf guilty of fraud, misconducts
The recent reinstatement of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Usman Yusuf, stirred nationwide controversy and left some staff of the agency bemused.
Some of the staff protested at the premises of the agency Thursday last week when Mr. Yusuf reported back to his office. During the protest, the workers complained about alleged highhandedness of Mr. Yusuf before his suspension.
No fewer than 447 of the 686 foreign trained doctors who wrote the assessment test of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) failed. The Federal Government decried the poor performance of the foreign trained medical and dental graduates as only 249 were successful in the examination conducted in November 2017. Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, said in Abuja on Thursday at the induction of the 243 successful medical doctors and six dental graduates that participated at the remedial course and assessment.
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The House of Representatives yesterday passed amendment of the Orthopedic Hospital Management Board Act through Second reading. The bill which seeks to amend sections 1(1), 2(4), 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 12(1), 13(1), 14(3) and 15, as well as the first schedule of the Principal Act and, change the date of the submission of annual estimates to the Minister and increase some penalties.
As part of plans to address the high demand for admission into medical schools in Nigeria,PAMO University of Medical Sciences, described as the country’s first private medical university,was last weekend inaugurated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.NAFDAC cautions media against illegal advertisement of pharmaceutical products
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has cautioned the media over the advertisement of pharmaceutical products without confirmation from the agency.
The Director General of the agency, Prof. Christianah Mojisola Adeyeye disclosed this at a press briefing, while its arraigned suspected drug peddlers over sales and distribution of falsified pharmaceutical product in Lagos state.
The Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University(NAU), Awka, Prof. Joseph E. Ahanaku has urged the Federal and state government in Nigerian to apply the measures used in eradicating guinea worm disease, to fight other tropical diseases bedevilling the country.
Prof. Ahanaku made the recommendation while speaking at a public lecture yesterday in Awka, organized by department of Parasitology and Entomology, NAU with the titled, ‘Guinea Worm Eradication in Nigeria: lessons for researchers and policy makers’, stressing that the citizenry faces a lot of health challenges in recent times.
