Frontpage News (3256)
Hazard Allowance: Strike Looms As Ondo Doctors Issue Ultimatum
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Medical Doctors in Ondo State have threatened to embark on strike action if the state government fails to implement payment of 50 per cent basic salary as special COVID-19 hazard allowance for all health workers.
The doctors on Wednesday issued a 14-day ultimatum to the state government to address their grievances or face statewide strike action. The doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) Ondo State Branch, an affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), stated this after its emergency meeting in Akure, Ondo State capital.
75 percent of the patients contracted Covid-19 through unknown sources, 23 percent of patients through contact with people who returned from abroad, 65,000 samples tested so far by Nigeria. 
Nigeria has recorded the second-highest cases of coronavirus in Africa. The World Health Organisation made this known on Tuesday. WHO reported that COVID-19 cases in Africa had risen to over 150, 000, as of June 2. The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official Twitter handle @WHOAFRO.
“There are over 150,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 63,000 recoveries and 4,200 deaths,’’ it said. The figures show that South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria have the highest reported cases on the continent.
The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, says the state will build more general hospitals in order to boost health care delivery. Hamzat made this known on Tuesday while discussing Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu/Dr Obafemi Hamzat’s administration in the last one year on an online show, tagged: ”Covinspiration”.
Recall that the show was moderated by Dayo Israel, a UN Special Representative and British Council Global Change-maker. “We have gotten experts and they have done the design and Mercy Hospital has been mapped out, as we are building another Mercy Hospital. “Also, we are building a general hospital in Ojo because we discovered there is none around that axis and we are also expanding the general hospital in Gbagada.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency and national interest, come up with a work plan, in collaboration with State Governments, to employ all the unemployed medical doctors in the country as part of efforts geared toward improving the healthcare sector.
The resolution was passed following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi, who underscored the critical roles played by health professionals toward improving access to quality healthcare for the ever-growing population by providing essential services that promote health, prevent diseases and deliver health care services to individuals, families and communities based on the primary, secondary and tertiary health care approaches.
Increased use of antibiotics to fight COVID-19 will lead to more deaths – WHO
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Increased antibiotics use in combating the COVID-19 pandemic will strengthen bacterial resistance and ultimately lead to more deaths during the crisis and beyond, the World Health Organization said Monday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a “worrying number” of bacterial infections were becoming increasingly resistant to the medicines traditionally used to treat them. The UN health agency said it was concerned that the inappropriate use of antibiotics during the coronavirus crisis would further fuel the trend.
The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) says it has validated four Rapid Test Kits to determine their suitability for testing SAR-COV-2 infection popularly known as COVID-19 in the country.
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of MLSCN, Dr Tosan Erhabor disclosed this in a video posted on the official twitter account of the council @MedLabNigeria. Erhabor said the council placed an advert in four National Daily Newspapers on March, 30,
The Federal Government has said that it has approved the resumption of the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 drug trials earlier suspended two weeks ago.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said this on Tuesday in Abuja, at the 39th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19. “A few weeks ago, I announced that Nigeria will participate in COVID-19 drug trial, which the WHO was leading but partly suspended.
As the world anxiously await a cure for COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday raised the alarm over the rising number of adulterated medical products in the markets.
They specifically mentioned Chloroquine as one of such products that have been faked and bandied by unscrupulous manufacturers as Coronavirus drug.
COVID-19: Don’t Transfer Responsibility To Governors, NMA President Tells FG
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The newly-elected president of the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA), Professor Innocent Ujah, has advised the Federal Government not to allow governors take over the battle to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Ujah who gave the warning while speaking with newsmen in Jos shortly after he was received by members of the association in Plateau State enjoined President Muhammadu Buhari not transfer such responsibility to the state governments, adding that apart from Lagos and two other states, the situation had been a disappointment in
other states. “This is an emergency, Coordination is very important and the coordination should be central while approach to the pandemic should be uniform.
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Nigeria Records 348 New Cases Of Coronavirus, Total Now 11,166
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Nigeria’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday rose to 11,166 as 348 new infections were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The NCDC disclosed this on its verified Twitter handle on Wednesday night.
“On the 3rd of June 2020, 348 new confirmed cases and 1 death were recorded in Nigeria. No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours. “Till date, 11166 cases have been confirmed, 3329 cases have been discharged and 315 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
FG approves health workers’ hazard allowance, insurance cover
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The Federal Government says it is ready to pay two months hazard allowance to health workers in the frontline of the battle against COVID-19.
Speaking at a meeting between representatives of the Federal Government and the Health Professional Associations, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, pledged that the doctors would be paid hazard allowance for the months of April and May before Friday, June 12, 2020.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the agency has shipped more than five million items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to 110 countries to support COVID-19 response.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said this at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva. The director general said the agency was in the process of shipping more than 129 million items of PPE to 126 countries.
Up to 12 people have been found infected with Ebola in a new outbreak of the deadly disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
A week ago, authorities reported six infections in the northwestern city of Mbandaka, saying they appeared to be separate from another outbreak of the virus that has raged in the east since 2018. There have now been nine confirmed cases and three probable cases of the disease in and around Mbandaka, the WHO said. Six of those people have died, it added. The city sits on the Congo River, close to the border with the Republic of Congo.
