Frontpage News (3256)
‘Why national health insurance enrollees dropped to 1.7%’
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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
Coronavirus: Senator laments Nigeria’s lack of preparedness
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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.
Coronavirus may spur drugs, medical supplies shortage in Nigeria
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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.
Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, says as African countries confirm cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the virus ceases to be a threat and becomes a reality on the continent.
Moeti, in a statement posted on the organisation’s website, said Senegal reported its first case of COVID-19 on Monday, becoming the fourth African country to confirm the virus.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) on Tuesday pledged to support the current effort by Federal Government against CoronaVirus or Covid-19 with a whooping N200million. The ADF’s intervention is considered the largest single donation by a corporate organisation in the country to contain the spread of coronavirus since a foreigner was tested positive last month in Lagos.
It would be recalled that the Aliko Dangote Foundation also committed about N1 billion to the fight against the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Africa. The foundation directly supported the Nigerian government’s Ebola containment efforts through strategic investments
The Osun State Government has restated its commitment to an improved and affordable health care system for residents, as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS said about 7,115 carriers of the disease are currently receiving treatment in the state.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi stated this in Osogbo on Wednesday while receiving a delegation from the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, led by Cyril Ojeonu, NACA’s Head of Government Resources Division. Alabi said, “We are assuring you that we will stop at nothing to ensure that HIV infection is brought down to a bearest minimum in the state.”
Medical Laboratory Profession is Indispensable in Healthcare, Says Osinbajo
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The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has stated that medical laboratory profession is an important part of healthcare provision.
He urged the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science and the Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists to ensure peaceful laboratory environment in the West Africa region in the line of duty. Osinbajo who declared open the 2020 Congress of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS) and induction/investiture of its Fellows in Lagos recently, noted the importance of accurate and reliable laboratory diagnosis in the prevention and control of diseases.
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Dirty banknotes may be spreading coronavirus, WHO suggests people go cashless
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Banknotes may be spreading the new coronavirus so people should try to use contactless payments instead, the World Health Organization has said. Customers should wash their hands after touching banknotes because infectious Covid-19 may cling to the surface for a number of days, the United Nations agency said on Tuesday.
To prevent the spread of the disease, people should use contactless technology where possible, a WHO spokesperson added. The Bank of England has acknowledged that banknotes "can carry bacteria or viruses" and urged people to wash their hands regularly.
Head of Human Resources at the Federal Ministry of Health, Shakuri Kadiri, has said that the country has one doctor to 2,753 patients. Kadiri disclosed this in Abuja at the launch of the Nigeria Health Work Force Country Profile 2018 and handover of the Nigeria Health Workforce Registry by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and other partners.
He read the profile, which put the number of medical doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria at 74,543; implying there are 36.3 medical doctors per 100,000 population.
The Chairman, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Dare Olulana, has raised an alarm that the National Universities Commission (NUC) will collapse the nation’s health sector with its circular on doctorate degree for clinical lecturers in universities.
Olulana who gave the warning while addressing journalists in Ibadan recently, said any attempt to insist on compulsory acquisition of PhD by clinical lecturers in medical schools will sound the death knell of the health care system in Nigeria. Members of the association all over the country last week Wednesday embarked on an indefinite strike action after its ultimatum to the NUC to withdraw the circular on PhD
An anti-inflammation drug, Actemra (tocilizumab), manufactured by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, has been approved by the Chinese government for the treatment of patients who are developing severe complications from coronavirus.
Actemra is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to one or more Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs. Roche was quoted as saying that a third party has initiated the trial independently to explore the efficacy and safety of the drug in coronavirus patients with cytokine release syndrome (CRS). According to the online portal, Pharmaceutical Technology,
