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Tag: Healthcare

  • Access Bank boosts healthcare

    Access Bank boosts healthcare

    AS part of its corporate social responsibility, Access Bank has been leading in efforts at salvaging the Nigerian health sector in recent times.

    It has particularly shown tremendous commitment to supporting the fight against malaria and other scourges that plague Nigerians and Africans at large by demonstrating its willingness in partnering non-governmental organisations and private institutions to advance its corporate social responsibilities.

    Speaking about one of its major sponsorship contributions to the 2014 GBCHealth/CAMA Annual Technical Forum themed:”Capitalising on Competences: Partnering to Eliminate Malaria and Accelerate Impact on Maternal and Child Health”, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of the bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe justified the need for big corporations to lend a helping hand in the fight against the disease in the society.

    According to him:”The fight against malaria is one that all should embrace, because a healthy society is beneficial to all.  The decision to partner GBCHealth on this issue was not a difficult one. The bank is very passionate about its corporate social responsibility. Thus we cannot close our doors to offers that aim to uplift the wellbeing of our host communities and Nigeria at large.”

    The bank had recently led massive efforts at attracting the needed financing from international partners towards fixing the system, spearheading an initial campaign “gift from Africa” in 2010 ” where it led several private sector institutions including Dangote to raise about $5 million to support the fight against HIV,  tuberculosis and malaria.

    Wigwe said:”Health financing in itself is critical to solving it from the private sector but also government support is also critical but there are other things that are just as critical to ensure we fight this issue of disease and health and all of that which is around partnerships and the mode of implementation in terms of this crusade to make Africa a much better place.”

    The Access Bank boss also noted that all banking and investment efforts would actually be meaningless if the health of the people to whom products and services were being targeted at is in danger, stressing it is the responsibility of the banking industry to help restore the health system.

    Also, Head, Development Banking, Access Bank, Mr. Oluwatoyin Idowu said:”We believe in strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) and being one of the leading banks in the country we believe that we need to give back to the community and this is one of the things that we have been doing under our CSR. We have done a couple of things in the past and we will continue to do it. We partner with them (GBC Health) to ensure that the subject of discourse, which is eradication of malaria and maternal and child mortality is addressed.”

    The World Bank estimates about $4.5 billion is required to make quality health services accessible to Nigeria.

  • Nigeria gets Norwegian $15m grant for mother, child healthcare

    Nigeria gets Norwegian $15m grant for mother, child healthcare

    Efforts to improve the country’s healthcare delivery service, especially for mother and child care received a boost  yesterday as Norwegian government offer Nigeria a grant of $15million.

    The money is to assist Nigeria to  upscale it’s  maternal and child health programme.

    A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect was signed yesterday in Abuja.

    The project is to be implemented by Clinton Health Foundation.

    Speaking at the occasion, Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu said the country remain committed to meeting the Health-Specific Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) by 2015.

    He explained that the “Norwegian government is supporting Nigeria with equivalent of 90million Norwegian crones. When you change it to US dollars, it translates to $15million. Now, they have given Nigeria that money as a grant or donation to support the work we are doing in terms of maternal and child health to ensure we meet the MDG target by next year; as far as goal number four and five are concerned.

    “This commitment by Norway of giving us $15million to support our maternal and child health is in furtherance of friendship between the two countries. We called it tripartite agreement because to execute it, both countries agreed that we will use the Clinton Health Action Initiative, what we call CHAI. They’ve been working for us in Nigeria and they have demonstrated capability and capacity to work in the health sector particularly in this area of maternal and child health. They also have to commit that they will do exactly what the two countries want the money to be used for. That is the essence of today’s ceremony.”

    He further explained that “although Nigeria has mainstreamed MDGs target into various national initiatives and strategies in order to fast track the attainment of the MDGs, more efforts continue to be required to ensure we achieve the goals, or come as close to achieving them as possible by the end of next year.

    “The development of Harmonized Country Plan of Priority Interventions for 2014-2015, HCPPI, is one of such initiatives to step up our efforts in this regard.

    “This plan represents a call to action to all states and supporting partners to improve programming and focus more resources on the identified, evidence-based, cost-effective and scalable interventions that are already producing results in order to achieve better health outcomes.

    “Through this plan, we aim to save an additional 420,000 maternal and children’s lives by 2015 at a total cost of $650 million as identified in the Harmonized Country Plan, and we have an estimated funding gap of $420 million. We have available commitments totaling $121 million currently being mobilized through projects from the Private Health Sector Alliance, UNICEF, GFATM, the Federal Ministry of Health, USAID and GE Healthy Imagination among other, leaving $299 outstanding.

    “The Tripartite Agreement we have signed today represents one of the many efforts to meet the resource gap. The expected impact on the target group is the reduction of maternal and neonatal deaths in the three selected states by 40% by 2015. This translates to approximately 2,961 maternal and 19,825 neonatal additional lives saved.”

    In his short remark, Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Rolf Ree said the  collaboration could not  be successful without the strong leadership of Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu.

     

  • Healthcare providers hold workshop

    Healthcare providers hold workshop

    Healthcare providers in Enugu State have called for a ceasefire in all disagreements among them in order to form a strong force to enhance greater understanding and service delivery to patients.

    The health professionals comprised medical doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, physiotherapists and practitioners in other related fields converged on the Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria (UNEC) for a one-day seminar on Inter-professional Relationships in Medical Practice and Restoration of Professional Dignity. They were drawn from government and private health institutions in Enugu State.

    Chairman of the Enugu State branch of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Mr. Obinna Onodugo, the organisers of the event, warned of the grave dangers of conflict among health professionals, even as he reminded his colleagues of the need to always place the welfare of patients first.

    Onodugo also emphasised the need for collaboration among stakeholders in order to move the industry forward, adding that team work remained the key to effective and durable healthcare.

    He said: “Let us understand our roles and stick to them to avoid friction among us. The function of every health professional is as important as the other. Let this new dawn of marriage begin from Enugu State, so that others can learn of the good news, and then join the vanguard of change.”

    He, however, denied any suppression of other health professionals by medical doctors working in government and private hospitals in the country, explaining that so many things that were tenable abroad could not work in Nigerian health institutions.

    Also speaking, former chairman of the West African College of Physicians, Prof. Bede Ibe, identified indiscipline among some healthcare personnel as one of the major problems facing the health sector. He urged members to accord priority to the interest of patients while maintaining high ethical standards in the discharge of their duty.

    He commended Dr. Obinna Onodugo for organising the seminar, stressing that such dialogue was necessary in order to improve healthcare delivery in Nigeria.

    Delivering a lecture entitled “Inter-Professional Relationship in Medical Practice, the Public Perspective, the Provost of College of Medicine, Anambra State University Uli, Prof. Frank Akpuaka, observed that the objectives of national healthcare system and areas of inter-professional conflict were mainly to provide effective, efficient, quality, accessible and affordable healthcare services that would improve health status of Nigerians.

    The Provost, whose paper was presented on the occasion by an independent consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine, Dr. Philip Ume-Ezeoke, stated that the main target of the national healthcare system was to reduce child mortality and maternal mortality rates, halt HIV and AIDS, malaria, leprosy and other major diseases like tuberculosis, measles, polio and others through extensive immunisation programmes.

    Continuing, he said: “There should be a collaborative and cohesive inter-professional relationship among doctors and other medical professionals, the old world view of doctors as “healers” next to God, reigning supreme and looking down on other medical professionals is an “old school mentality”, this concept is no longer accepted in modern medical practice.”

    Speaking on “Role of the Medical Laboratory Scientists, the Evolving Nature of Healthcare Delivery,” Chairman of Enugu State branch of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists, Mr. Chinenye Nwaekpe, said that today’s patients had varied needs and required more discipline to effectively address, pointing out that before now, the clinician was viewed as the sole gateway to the medical services within the healthcare system of a country, even as times were changing due to increasing knowledge of the use of other healthcare professionals as their first port of call.

    Nwaekpe, fondly addressed by his colleagues as the doyen of Laboratory Science in Africa, further explained that medical laboratory science was not only a regulated profession practised by trained and licensed professionals, but also as the diagnostic searchlight of both traditional and modern medicine.

    The State Chairman maintained that laboratory services are essential component of healthcare delivery and could be utilised effectively at every level of healthcare. He noted that in the African region, many commonly presenting diseases might be diagnosed, using basic essential laboratory tests, a major reason that the services must be regarded as an integral part of an effective and quality healthcare system.

    Also in her lecture on “Inter-professional Relationships in Medical Practice, the Role of the Nurse, former Principal of the School of Nursing, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu, Dr Chika Ugochukwu, was of the view that modern healthcare practice involved a team of health professions, namely medicine, pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory science, medical rehabilitation medicine and other professional health groups.

    Dr Ugochukwu said team work succeeds and thrives only in an atmosphere of respect and reciprocity among team members, performing their different roles.

    The nursing legend, however, noted that the major group around who healthcare relationships resolves are doctors and nurses as the doctor is in charge of the patient and head of the team, while the nurse is in charge of the ward and care setting.

    She also said relationship in health is not forced, but is an obligation and necessity. Mr. Dennis Ikeyi and a renowned pharmacist, Cyril Aninwike, also presented papers at the occasion.

    The seminar attracted several healthcare professionals and managers of government and private hospitals. They included the Medical Director of National Orthopedic Hospital Enugu, Dr Cajetan Nwadinigwe, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology University of Nigeria Nsukka, Prof. Obinna Onwujekwe, Chairman of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Prof. Jonathan Azubike and former Chief Medical Director UNTH Ituku Ozalla, Enugu State, Dr Anthony Mba.

  • Healthcare services collapse in Borno

    Health care services have collapsed in northern Borno State. Workers have fled from the onslaught unleashed by Boko Haram insurgents.

    According to medical professionals, healthcare in the region has largely shut down.

    “The healthcare system in northern Borno has collapsed and healthcare delivery is nil,” said Musa Babakura, a surgeon at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

    Babakura said the situation was a “growing health crisis”, with the sick forced to trek long distances to receive medical attention and vaccination for children.

    Violence by Boko Haram militants has raged since 2009, but has been particularly ferocious in recent weeks, with some 500 people killed in militant attacks since the beginning of the year.

    Worst hit are villages in remote areas near Borno’s border with Cameroon, despite an increased military presence in the state.

    Hospitals and clinics have not escaped raids, even after the Federal Government imposed an emergency rule on Borno and two other northeastern states last May.

    Medical personnel have been kidnapped, either for ransom or to treat wounded fighters in Boko Haram’s ranks.

    Pharmacies — mostly run by Christians — have faced robberies and looting.

    The insecurity has forced local people to cross into neighbouring Cameroon in search of treatment, with expectant mothers and the infirm using donkeys and auto-rickshaws to negotiate the difficult terrain.

    The gruelling trek takes its toll, said Modu Faltaye, a local chief in Wulgo, on the shores of Lake Chad.

    “By the time the sick reach the hospital (in Cameroon), they are in a worse state, which is why we lose a lot of them,” he said.

    “Naturally, the rate of maternal and infant mortality is bound to rise in the area as a result of complications arising from poor transportation facilities to hospital,” added Babakura.

    Nigeria is one of only three countries in the world — along with Afghanistan and Pakistan — where polio is endemic.

    Violence against immunisation workers have affected the programmes.

    At least nine people were killed in February last year, when gunmen stormed two vaccination clinics in Kano, hampering efforts to inoculate children against the virus.

    Last year, there were 53 recorded cases of polio in Nigeria, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative said.

    Just over half were in Borno and neighbouring Yobe, which is also under emergency rule and suffering from Boko Haram attacks.

    One Borno immunisation official said childhood jabs were now only given in the capital, Maiduguri, because vaccinators were afraid to travel to many parts of the state.

    In Baga, a fishing village near Lake Chad, a suspected cerebral fever has killed scores of people since December but residents have been unable to seek treatment.

    “People are dying like fowls,” said a resident, Hussaini Goni.

    Difficulties in delivering drugs to violence-affected areas and the closure of pharmacies have increased costs of medication by as much as 35 per cent, residents say.

    Hospital treatment in Cameroon is also more expensive than in Nigeria, according to doctors and nurses.

    The closure of healthcare facilities in rural areas has added pressure on those who remain, with hospitals in Maiduguri having to take the strain, despite staff shortages.

    Two of the hospital’s three orthopaedic surgeons have quit, said Doctor Kabiru Ebrahim.

    A number of senior specialists are either on leave of absence or sabbatical, pending an end to the violence, he added.

    “Patients with special ailments like HIV, diabetics and hypertension need to access drugs at regular intervals and those drugs can only be found in Maiduguri,” said Ebrahim.

    “But these types of patients are sometimes denied the chance to come and take their drugs due to Boko Haram carrying out highway attacks.”

    Babakura said hospitals such as the UMTH were now forced to provide treatment that would ordinarily be given at primary care level.

    “Closures have substantially increased the patient burden on us, which makes us work longer hours that could compromise efficiency,” he added.

  • ‘Enrollee satisfaction survey key to quality healthcare’

    The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has further undertaken a User Satisfaction Survey in the Northeast geo-political zone, to determine the effectiveness and quality of services rendered by the providers

    Its Deputy General Manager in the Planning, Research and Monitoring, Dr Thomas Adeoye, who led one of the monitoring teams in the assignment, said this was a follow-up to the just- concluded training of schedule officers in uniformed services in the zone.

    According to him, this is the concluding phase of a nation-wide Comparative User Satisfaction Survey among enrollees in both the public and private healthcare facilities which took place in four states of the region, namely, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe states, adding that similar exercises had earlier been conducted in the other zones of the country.

    He explained that the survey is expected to be a feedback strategy for the purpose of assessing the quality of services rendered, as enrollees and their dependants access care in public and private primary healthcare facilities, so as to determine their level of satisfaction under the scheme.

    “The scheme is embarking on the comparative user satisfaction survey, because of reports in its custody, to the effect that enrollees are not getting maximum services from providers, saying the survey, which is one among the key regulatory functions of the scheme, is a routine programme aimed at determining that enrollees’ rights to qualitative healthcare service delivery are honored.

    “The scheme is commited to ensuring that enrollees have access to qualitative healthcare services at affordable cost. The data analysis that will result from the survey will inform future policy decisions of the scheme, as they relate to enrollee satisfaction,” Adeoye, said.

    He therefore assured that the project will increase the scale of user satisfaction, as the application of the report of the exercise will deepen decision making, leading to greater enrollee service satisfaction.

    The expected outcomes of the survey he noted, include generating statistical data of the level of patronage at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of healthcare, as well as the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of enrollees with the quality of healthcare services at public or private facilities.

    The comparative enrollee survey was conducted among enrollees from federal ministries, departments, agencies, as well as para-military institutions.

  • Traditional medicine and healthcare in Nigeria, which way forward? 

    Fifty years after most countries attained independence, Africans remain the world’s least healthy people. As a group, they are at the bottom of every index of social and economic indicators. Surveys of the use of health services show that fewer Africans are seeking care, partly because fewer services are available at affordable price, and partly because they are dissatisfied with modern health care services.

    Biotech or, Biohealth, is a new modern form of medicine that focuses almost exclusively on using high-tech machines to diagnose diseases, even before they appear in the body. In Biotech, patients are subjected to endless series of expensive tests, just to detect illnesses that are yet to manifest in the body, or to know the nature of already diagnosed ones.  Biotech  diverts attention from the question ‘How can people prevent illness?’ to focus on ‘How can they pay for treatment?’

    Whereas in the past, people go to the hospital when they feel ill, today everybody is advised to head for the hospital for sicknesses that they may suffer from in five or 10 years’ time. Modern medicine has abandoned its role as a healthcare provider to become a HEALTH SCARE PROMOTER.  Fear is a very effective weapon in the armory of modern medicine. The sick go to the hospital because they are afraid of death and the healthy go to the hospital because they are afraid of falling sick. One way or the other, we have all become prisoners of fear.

    Bio-health is not interested in addressing the disparities in wealth, trade imbalance and rich-poor divine in the world communities. Bio-health turns away from the fact that poverty, unfair trade imbalance, poor sanitation, poor nutrition and unbridled monetisation of public health, is the root cause of health inequality and poor health in the world, especially in Africa.

    Bio-health not only treats our diseases, but it often invents diseases and then go ahead to provide the medication to cure its invention.  This medicalisation of human life, from infancy to adolescence, pregnancy, middle age and old age, partly explains the rapid expansion of the medical enterprise in the past 20 years. It is not a health for all, but rather health for the rich, who make up one per cent of world population. Health for all, in the language of modern medical capitalism, means health of the one per cent for the one per cent and by the one per cent.

    When we talk about promoting traditional medicine, we are talking about  a rediscovery of our traditional African culture of care and concern for one another and for our environment. As major stakeholders in the health sector, we at PAXHERBALS are calling for a new thinking on healthcare management, policy and reform in Africa. We call for a reawakening of the Traditional African approach to health in which the health of an individual could not be separated from the health of a community. Instead of pursuing a ‘healthy lifestyle’ characteristic of modern, individualistic culture, we preach a return to the older wisdom traditions of Africa that corporately valued community-based well-being and harmonious living.

  • Memo to the President on healthcare

    SIR: One of the responsibilities of government is to improve the health status of all citizens but past governments do not seem to view healthcare as a fundamental human right. This among other factors explains why there is yet no universal health coverage for citizens although health insurance insurance is available for a few.

    The NHIS which is a social health insurance programme established by Decree 35 of 1999 and was kick-started in September 2005 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to provide health services to the formal sector as well as complement sources of financing health and improving access has only provided coverage for less than 10 per cent of the population. Achieving universal health coverage and maintaining it once it has been achieved is no doubt a daunting task but the following are steps President Jonathan can take to provide access to healthcare for the over 90 per cent of Nigerians who are either uninsured or underinsured.

    First, increase spending on disease prevention services and public health and ensure that curative services do not suffer as a result of this. The health of the Nigerian people must be a national priority. Though, there are other issues that are begging for government’s attention but increasing budgetary allocation for the health sector to at least 12 per cent and at most 13 per cent of the GDP will go a long way in providing preventive services to the citizens.

    Secondly, scale-up community-based health insurance schemes across the federation. The federal government need to ensure that those in the informal sector are covered and provide safety nets for poor Nigerians who constitute about 65 per cent of our population in order to increase access to health care for the people. Most Nigerians are confronted with catastrophic expenses due to lack of social protection which makes them pay out-of-pocket. Besides, out-of-pocket payment for health care increases poverty.

    Thirdly, after several years of having the department of public health under the Federal Ministry of Health, there is a need to upgrade this department into an agency. The establishment of a National Public Health Agency will increase the capacity of Federal Ministry of Health to provide prompt and effective health interventions to Nigerians. This is necessary if government must reduce the incidence of diseases and disabilities.

    Finally, all Nigerian companies/employers should by law be mandated to pay for their employee’s healthcare insurance while the employees pay part of the cost of this insurance. There should also be a mandatory healthcare insurance for all Nigerian children. This will help reduce the rate of mortality among this vulnerable group in the society.

    • Bolaji Samson Aregbeshola,

    Lagos State.

     

  • FCTA to step up primary healthcare

    FCTA to step up primary healthcare

    IN order to promote its community health insurance scheme, introduced sometime back in area councils of the FCT, the administration has realised it must rejuvenate its primary healthcare system.

    The administration set up a ministerial committee on synergy and responsibility to embark on a facility audit of the health facilities in all the area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Dec. 2012 and saddled with the mandate of undertaking a detailed evaluation of the functionality of the Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in the FCT.

    It was concerned that in spite of the huge expenditures on PHC infrastructure and personnel, the sub sector still appears moribund and required that the committee provide recommendations for the declining standard of services at the various health facilities in the area councils.

    The report submitted showed that there are 215 primary health care (PHC) facilities in the FCT, built by the FCT administration and other agencies in the health care development system.

    Of the number, only 202 PHC are staffed with skeletal health care services, while the remaining 13 are without staff. Of the number, only 27 have facilities to provide minimum ward care package.

    Also, of the number with health personnel, only 27 can provide the minimum ward health care package of services while 146 of the facilities are in need of various levels of rehabilitation work. Power, portable water supply, essential drugs and toilets are also in short supply.

    It is well known that, there can be no economic growth, when the higher part of the population is unhealthy. The health care system in itself is divided into 3 sectors, the primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities.

    Where the primary health care centres which is the foundation for health care system is  found in communities and closer to the people, the secondary comprises of the general hospitals and the tertiary’s are the teaching hospitals.

    Minister of State for the FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide insisted that, as much as the administration is trying to sell the idea of the health insurance scheme, people will not buy into the idea until they are sure that there are health facilities near them that can deliver the services.

    The Minister on August 6th, 2013, inaugurated a 17 man committee and gave them the mandate to study the report on the public health care infrastructure inventory and human resource audit in the 6 area councils of the FCT and make recommendations.

    It also included, identifying all public PHC facilities that require minor and major repairs, identify sources of funding and authority responsible for such repairs and bring about recommendation that will revitalise the primary health centre.

    The chairman of the committee Demola Onakomaiya, the secretary, health and human service secretariat FCT explained that, if the primary health centres can provide for its host community, cases like child delivery, malaria, hypertension etc. Will not have to go to secondary and tertiary centres, thereby reducing the amount of patients they will have to attend to and minimise the pressure on such centres.

     

  • PDP chieftain commends Orji on healthcare delivery

    The National Vice Chairman (South East) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Col Austin Akobundu (rtd.) has commended the Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji, over his achievements in the health sector.

    Akobundu, who said this in a statement issued in Umuahia and noted that Orji has since his assumption of office transformed the health sector of the state to world class standard by building and equipping 250 health centres.

    He said that apart from the health centres scattered in each of the political wards in the state, the governor had also built diagnostic centres in Umuahia and Aba, an internationally rated dialysis clinic in Umuahia which was commissioned on Monday by the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu.

    The South East PDP boss listed other health projects to be commissioned by the governor soon, which include a 100-bed modern general hospitals in nine local government areas of the state, an ophthalmology centre and the reconstructed health institutions in Arochukwu, Okeikpe and Aba.

    Akobundu further expressed delight that the state government embarked on the total refurbishing of Amachara general hospital and Abia Specialist hospital, both of which he said has been turned into world-class specialist hospital and teaching hospital respectively.

    The South East PDP chair maintained that the recent commissioning of the dialysis centre in Umuahia will not only save lives, but check capital flight.

     

  • Govt urged to invest in healthcare

    THE Guild, the umbrella body for all doctors under the employ of Lagos State, have urged the Federal and state governments to invest in health care delivery system.

    In a statement, the body said only a healthy mind in a sound body can adequately propel and celebrate social, economic and political stability of the country.

    The Medical Guild chairman, Dr Olumuyiwa Odusole and the other executive members called for a functional partnership with governments at all level.

    Odusole spoke during the health screening mission sponsored by the Guild at the Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area, of Lagos State.

    “Also, we would like to partner with well-meaning Nigerians, corporate bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to subsidise the ‘unfortunate’ high cost of health care delivery service being encountered in the country, especially by the poor.

    He charged the state government to update the health facilities in the area to continue to provide quality care for the people.

    Odusole said the government cannot do everything for the people, stressing that partnership will go a long way to address some of the problems.

    He called for increased support and assistance from viable NGOs and other corporate bodies, and the rich to rejuvenate the present ailing facilities being used in the area.

    Responding, Medical Officer of Igando-Ikotun LCDA, Dr Sunday Orebiyi, enjoined the people to place very high premium on their health to avoid instant or gradual death caused by ignorance or fear of the high cost of health care, especially in private hospitals.