The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Doctors

  • LUTH to train doctors

    The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is introducing a skill-improving training programme for doctors.

    This would enable the resident doctors to acquire skills that would be beneficial to patients, Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Akin Osibogun. He said the hospital would introduce a new programme to improve training of resident doctors.

    Osibogun told The Nation that the new programme would enable the resident doctors to acquire skills that would be beneficial to the patients.

    He said the hospital has started acquiring state-of-the-art equipment and has also succeeded in building a sophisticated surgical centre that will facilitate training of health workers in the hospital. ·

    “By starting new programmes, by improving on our infrastructure and the facilities and by acquiring equipment, it means that new procedures and more procedures can be carried out in the hospital.

    “And, as you carry out more procedures and new procedures, then you are improving on training opportunities, because we cannot train residents, if we do not have many procedures being carried out.

    “We have also acquired other equipment, such as the laparoscopic equipment for pinhole surgery or minimally invasive surgery.

    “The equipment is on ground, the facilities are on ground, and so, the training of residents is going to rapidly improve.

    “We also developed one of the most sophisticated surgical skill centres in the country.

    “That surgical skill centre is ready. It has laparoscopic towers for training of residents and other health workers. So, this year, we are going full blast in terms of service provision as well as training of resident doctors and other health workers to ensure that we continue to facilitate the transfer of skills.”

  • Doctors seek govt’s, community’s help for autism patients

    Experts and concerned parents have called on the government to provide facilities for the management of children suffering from autism.

    They also urged Nigerians to show understanding with the patients and offer psychological support for families with children having autism.

    The call was made by discussants at this year’s Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun Memorial Symposium, held at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan yesterday.

    Prof. Olayinka Omigbodun, Dr. Olayinka Akindayomi and Dr. Cornelius Ani discussed autism from various perspectives and offered a full understanding of the disease.

    While Omigbodun, a consultant on child and adolescent psychiatry, discussed the epidemiology and distribution patterns in various populations, Akindayomi, a community paedatrician and Ani, a consultant in child and adolescence psychiatry, discussed management of the disease.

    The discussants said though the cause of the disease was still unknown and that no cure had been developed, autism children and their families needed support from the government and society.

    Lamenting that facilities and support for the patients and families are almost non-existent, the medical experts urged government to create special sections in schools for the children and come up with legislations that can help autism children function better in the society.

    The policies, according to them, may include free accommodation, financial support, subsidising medical bills and even outlawing discrimination against children with autism as done in many countries in Europe and the United States of America (USA).

    Omigbodun explained that cases of autism are increasing among Blacks living in Europe according to findings, stressing that statistics show that there are an average of 60 in 100,000 children in most countries with most sufferers being boys.

    She enjoined government to ensure schools and hospitals make provisions for them to help them function well and help their parents get respite from the stress of caring for them round the clock.

    Akindayomi and Ani posited that no single intervention is the best, adding that the specific nature and needs of each child determine the intervention that will be appropriate.

    Ani listed popular interventions to include psycho-education, respite for parents, support groups, schools and community help.

    Welcoming guests earlier, a member of the Board of Trustees, Benjamin Osuntokun Trust, Prof. Kayode Oyediran, said this year’s programme was changed from lecture to symposium because the Board thought that a symposium would be a better approach to the topic.

    The Chairman of the Trust and Prof. Osuntokun’ wife, Prof. (Mrs.) Olabopo Osuntokun, thanked participants for honouring her husband.

    Lauding the discussions as vibrant, she recalled that there was nothing like autism when she was an undergraduate at the College of Medicine about 50 years ago.

    “But I have been enlightened. Many parents are battling with autism children in Nigeria,” she said.

    Prof. Osuntokun called on policy makers to come up with policies that would support children suffering from the disease as well as their families.

    While handing plaques and envelopes to the best Science student at Christ School, Ado-Ekiti and the best student in Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan where her deceased husband was once Dean, Prof. Osuntokun said her husband had passion and lived for excellence, hence the support the Trust was giving to excellent students in his memory.

    The Chairman of the symposium, Senator Olu Alabi, promised to lead a campaign for the establishment of a national association of groups and other stakeholders in Nigeria that would be working to influence government policies in favour of support for autism children and their families.At the event were Prof. Ladipo Akinkugbe and Prof. Akin Osuntokun, among others.

     

  • LUTH doctors suspend strike

    LUTH doctors suspend strike

    Doctors at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, on Friday suspended the three day-warning strike embarked upon to seek a review of their taxes.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the doctors, under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), had on Tuesday embarked on the strike.

    NAN checks at the hospital showed that essential medical services had resumed at the hospital following the suspension of the doctors’ action.

    The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Akin Osibogun, confirmed that the doctors had suspended the strike.

    Osibogun told NAN that the management was already holding discussions with the resident doctors.

    “The hospital management with the Lagos State Tax Authority had started holding meetings with the doctors so they can get the necessary clarification on what the tax law says.

    “Tax is a question of law, law passed by the National Assembly; as law abiding citizens, we should comply with what the law says and implement it,” he said.

    An executive of the association, who pleaded anonymity, said that the executives had held meetings with the management on the need to stop the deductions.

     

  • Deadly stomach cancers on the rise

    Deadly stomach cancers on the rise

    The American Cancer Society reports a record one million new worldwide

    cases of stomach cancer and 800,000 deaths per year.  Stomach cancer has

    been found to be the fourth most common type of cancer and the second

    leading cause of cancer death.

    It is reported that 1 in 114 men and women are at significant risk of

    developing stomach cancer at some point in their lives.  Stomach cancers

    are especially prevalent in the African and Hispanic populations.

     

    *Lifestyle induced cancers*

     

    The risk factors for stomach cancers are very similar to other lifestyle

    induced cancers.  The leading causative factors include smoking, a poor

    diet, lack of physical activity and obesity.  Proactive lifestyle changes

    such as quitting smoking and eating a diet rich in vegetables can reduce

    the risk of developing stomach cancer.

     

    Stomach cancers are known to be more prevalent in men over the age of 50,

    individuals with type A blood and have a history of a H. Pylori bacterial

    infections.  H. Pylori infections are also known to contribute to stomach

    ulcers.

     

    *Do I have stomach cancer?*

     

    Many cancers are actually chronic or long-term in nature.  Cancer’s

    complicating factor is that you don’t know you have cancer until you have

    symptoms.  Individuals that develop stomach cancer commonly have poor

    lifestyle choices for decades and do not know that it is silently

    developing.

    The signs and symptoms of stomach cancers are very similar to other

    gastrointestinal conditions.  You could be at risk if you have heartburn,

    indigestion, nausea or other ulcer-type symptoms.  Other concerning

    symptoms include abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating and a sense of

    fullness.

    Any symptom should not be ignored. Symptoms may not indicate cancer but

    they do indicate that one’s body is not functioning properly.  Lifestyle

    factors play a significant role in maintaining and improving how one’s body

    is able to heal and function.

     

    *Vitamin D3 prevents cancer*

     

    Vitamin D acts more like a hormone than a vitamin. Like a hormone, it has a

    huge impact on how genes express or fail to express themselves. In fact,

    one in every 25 genes in the human body interacts with vitamin D. This

    means that deficiencies may weaken the genetic infrastructure of our body

    and place us at risk for diseases such as stomach cancer.

     

    Without vitamin D our immune system is incapable of producing certain

    antimicrobial substances, leaving our body unable to fight off bacteria,

    viruses and cancer. A vitamin D deficiency will prevent the body from

    killing off precancerous cells before they turn into full-fledged cancer.

    According to the Vitamin D Council, the human body needs from 3,000 to

    5,000 IU daily. Besides preventing cancer, vitamin D is also needed for

    strong bones and calcium absorption in the body.

     

    *Eat cruciferous vegetables *

     

    Broccoli is one of the best cancer-fighting foods on the planet.  This

    super-vegetable is loaded with various nutrients that have been found to

    benefit various cancers including stomach.

    Sprouts of broccoli have been found to be the most beneficial.  A direct

    cancer-inhibiting nutrient can be found in greater concentrations in the

    sprouts than the full mature plants.  Cabbage and cauliflower have very

    similar properties.

    Go with your gut.  Talk with your healthcare professional if you suspect

    something is not right.  Prevention is the most important technique but few

    truly value lifestyle interventions until it’s too late.  Take proactive

    steps to reduce your risk today.

     

     

    Dr. Cory Couillard is an international healthcare speaker and columnist for

    numerous newspapers, magazines, websites and publications throughout the

    world. He works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals

    of disease prevention and global healthcare education. Views do not

    necessarily reflect endorsement.

     

    Email: drcorycouillard@gmail.com

     

    Facebook: Cory Couillard

     

    Twitter: Cory_Couillard

  • Public health not doctors’ preserve

    SIR: In Nigeria, the rivalry between health professionals has become a big issue in public health. It has reached a stage where by one professional group determines what goes in and out, leaving other health professionals as onlookers.

    World Health Organisation [1952] defines public health as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health and efficiency through organized community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of communicable infections, the education of the individual in personal hygiene, the organization of medical and nursing services for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery to ensure for every individual a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health, so organizing these benefits as to enable every citizen to release his birthright of health and longevity”.

    Considering the all-encompassing scope of public health, no profession, be it medical, nursing, chemist, etc., can lay claim to be its only promoter, as obtains in Nigeria where at the mere mention of ‘public health’, people look in the direction of doctors only.

    Doctors have now appropriated public health practice as exclusively theirs.They determine how it should be run, from federal level down to local government level.

    Nowadays, it has become a norm that every minister of health must be a doctor. In majority of states, the position are also reserved for doctors. This gives rise to a situation in which health policies tend to be one-sided, from the prism of medical practice, with the exception of other sides which are equally important.

    Now doctors are penetrating in to many professions and forcing their thoughts on how to do or not do this and that; they are into radiography, laboratory science, pharmacy etc., but still want to usurp the role of those who started from the degree level.

    The other area where other health professionals are being discriminated is their non-admission by many universities for Masters in Public Health, which it seems is exclusive reserve of medical doctors. With the exception of few universities in the South – like Federal University of Technology, Owerri, University of Calabar, University of Port Hacourt, University of Uyo-all northern universities reject any non-doctor health practitioner for the programme, even if s/he has first class in his degree.

    I am not bringing this to castigate or blackmail my fellow practitioners, as I have many doctors as mentors, but to highlight the issue which directly or indirectly affect delivery to the target beneficiaries.

    No profession is an island unto itself as doctors needs pharmacists, radiographers, laboratory scientists, and other health practitioners vice versa. As an environmental health officer, I need the police, lawyers, engineers, laboratory scientists, etc., to discharge my work accordingly, as such, public health services needs all of us to join hands to deliver.
    Public health belongs to us not one of us.

    • Sani Garba Mohammed,
    Dept of Public Health Technology,
    FUTO, Owerri.