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Tag: healthcare

  • Buhari, Nigeria’s healthcare and COVID remedies (1), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Buhari, Nigeria’s healthcare and COVID remedies (1), By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    As Nigeria remains largely an onlooker in the search for remedies to combat the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19, the reality of the nation’s healthcare system is brought starkly home by President Muhammadu Buhari jetting out on March 30, 2021, for nearly a three-week medical trip to London.
    It’d be about the sixth of such medical tours since he assumed office in May 2015, and the sojourn comes on the eve of a nationwide strike by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) over myriad of unavoidable issues affecting the doctors and the healthcare system in general.
    The NARD gave adequate notice for its protest, and yet, the president, without seeing to the resolution of the issues at play in these COVID-19 health-challenging times, chose to ignore the imminent strike and embarked on his medical check-up.
    There’s nothing out of place for public officials to seek medical treatments abroad, and certainly nothing against Buhari performing a yearly ritual pre-dating his second coming as a democratically-elected chief executive of Nigeria, as the routine was obviously disrupted in 2020 with the spread of the COVID-19 globally.
    But when the matter involves the president, the frequency of the trips, the secrecy of the ailment(s), the length of time spent and the unaccounted-for public funds expended, it becomes of great concern in a nation with competing demands for scarce resources.
    More disquieting to polity watchers is that Buhari, as a candidate for president, campaigned against medical tourism, and promised to fix Nigeria’s healthcare system if elected into office.
    Buhari reportedly took the campaign to London, and declared that he’d not seek foreign treatment as president, nor fly private to destinations, but board commercial flights as other Nigerians.
    Addressing the Nigerian community in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2015, Buhari identified waste, second only to corruption, as the “major killers” of Nigeria’s economy, noting that “our scarce resources are being plundered away very carelessly and unnecessarily wasted.”
    Pledging to tackle the menace by being frugal, Buhari rhetorically asked the audience: * What is the difference between me and those who elected us to represent them? Absolutely nothing! * Why should Nigerian President not fly with other Nigerian public? * Why do I need to embark on a foreign trip as a president with a huge crowd with public funds? * Why do I need to go to foreign medical trip if we cannot make our hospital functional?
    But since attaining the presidency in 2015, has Buhari fulfilled any or all of those promises? Yes, only in the breach! What Nigerians have witnessed in Buhari’s government is a total repudiation of his sacred promises made en route to the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
    Let’s supply answers, one by one, to his Socratic posers at the meeting with the Nigerian community in the UK in 2015: Till date, Buhari maintains a distance from Nigerians – he rarely leaves the Villa – to differentiate between him and those that elected him.
    Besides the Villa, London has become the second home to the president, as he’s spent more days, weeks and months in the English capital than in his hometown of Daura in Katsina State.
    He doesn’t fly with other Nigerians, but retains a fleet of aircraft and flies a presidential jet, which, when he’s outside the country, is parked at the tarmac, as long as the trip lasts, oblivious of the huge parking fees running into thousands of hard currencies.
    He embarks on foreign trips, with a huge crowd, with public funds. And he goes on foreign medical trips because Nigerian “hospitals are not functional.” The totality of doing the opposite of what Buhari had promised is increasing the waste he said he’d curtail.
    The parlous state of the country’s healthcare system in the past six years on Buhari’s watch has prompted increasing medical tourism by Nigerians, thus exerting a huge drain on limited resources.
    As Buhari undertakes yet another medical tour, The Guardian, on Wednesday, March 31, ran its front page lead story on Nigeria losing over N576 billion ($1.2 billion) yearly to medical tourism.
    Quoting the NARD and other local and international bodies, the report says that the N576 billion lost to medical tourism yearly in Nigeria “is about N100 billion less than the N632.7 billion allocated to the health sector in the 2021 budget.”
    It’s mind-numbing to realize that the vast amount on yearly medical tourism, as experts reckoned, could result in “adequate funding of the system, improved healthcare facilities, better remuneration and motivation for health workers, adequate training, improved medical research,” and a drastic reduction in brain drain and more.
    Back to COVID-19. Agreed the virus caught the world unawares. China that bears the burden of its origin didn’t see it coming. The pandemic was named “novel coronavirus,” to distinguish it from other viruses of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), such as influenza, commonly called “the flu”, with symptoms similar to COVID-19’s, ranging from “mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue,” and with massive deadly outcomes.
    But finding COVID-19 remedies – in treatment and prevention – didn’t take the world by surprise. Though having divergent views on their effectiveness, scientific and medical researchers, and institutions and governments simply tested, and adopted existing therapies, such as Chloroquine, Hydroxichloroquine, Remdesivir and Ivermectin, for tackling pathogens that exhibit characteristics similar to or of the nature of coronavirus.
    While other countries adopted these treatments against the ravaging pandemic in their populations, Nigeria never specifically, albeit publicly, chose a particular or a combination of therapies for managing and controlling the disease.
    Not even Ivermectin that “seems to be a Nigerian drug,” used to “treat infections in the body that are caused by certain parasites,” was considered until a few weeks ago.
    That’s when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed that a group of Nigerian scientific and medical researchers had come together to evaluate applying Ivermectin as a possible remedy for COVID-19.
    You would want to ask: Where were these researchers since February/March 2020 when the pandemic surfaced to threaten the human race? Or did it take that long to study “Ivermectin” that other nations had adopted, at least as a stop gap, for many months?
    Perhaps, it’s something to do with the “un-seriousness” of the Nigerian government and its leaders to the issue of healthcare and wellbeing of the citizens that form the actual wealth of the nation!
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • Buhari blames health workers for going abroad to seek medical care

    Buhari blames health workers for going abroad to seek medical care

    President Muhammadu Buhari has named the unfriendly attitude of health workers across Nigeria as a major reason why prominent Nigerians seek medical care outside the country.

    The president, who was represented by the Ministry of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said this at the official commissioning of an International Conference Centre and Telemedicine Hall and six other projects at the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    “We still get all too often for comfort, disconcerting reports of not friendly attitudes of staff to patients, reports of unhygienic and housekeeping standards that leaves something to be desired even in the presence of sophisticated equipment and well qualified doctors.

    “Such simple failings like this, are more frequently responsible for the loss of confidence of the end users in our health system than even the lack of equipment. They are the triggers for the distrust that will lead people to go on medical tourism.

    “We have a lot of work to do in that area and I want to believe that the managers of our hospitals after such laudable, fantastic infrastructure investment we now begin to pay attention, not only to improving staff harmony and welfare, but to retraining health care givers for even better professionalism that deliver service in a productive and courteous atmosphere based on the lessons we learnt from our traditional African hospitality,” he said.

    President Buhari also disclosed that his administration is currently embarking on the infrastructural development of all it’s tertiary hospitals so as to position them for quality health care delivery to the people.

    He added that the National Health Insurance Scheme is awaiting a law that would make the scheme compulsory for every Nigerian.

    “We are carrying on infrastructural development at all our tertiary hospitals to position them for quality health care delivery to all persons, the National Health Insurance Scheme is awaiting a new law to make health insurance mandatory,” Buhari said.

  • TNG INVESTIGATION: Horrible health care delivery system in Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa as mother of 12 bore twins thrice, quadruplates at home

    TNG INVESTIGATION: Horrible health care delivery system in Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa as mother of 12 bore twins thrice, quadruplates at home

    …communities in despair, resort to self-help

    …abandoned PHC centres now home to reptiles….

    By Emmanuel Bagudu

    Some communities in Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa States have thrown up their hands in despair as a result of unattended health needs in their communities. TNG’s correspondant Emmanuel Bagudu who went on an investigative tour in the three States made horrible discoveries. From the use of boats, bicycles to the use of traditional medical practices to access health care, citizens are forced to make do with available options to rescue themselves and their families from any health challenge. “We have lost hundreds of children and as the whether and climate keep changing we are already panicking …we need help….” Ladidi Haruna, a Citzen of Makwalla, a village in Kaduna told TNG. This piece explores the poor health care delivery system in some areas in Northwestern Nigeria and it’s corresponding effects on vulnerable communities with reference to some communities in Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa States.

    Visiting Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa States from Abuja was quite adventurous. The over 500km journey was full of shocking revelations. Health centres dysfunctional, residents keep expressing mixed feelings. While some seems relentless in calling for help, others seems despondent and have resort to self-help.

    First state to be visited was Kaduna.

    Third largest state in population in Nigeria, Kaduna now boost of quite an impressive revenue generation record of over N40billion annually as well as a yearly budget of over N200billion. But this however is not reflecting in some of the areas in the state especially those that requires urgent intervention on healthcare.

    Makwalla is a small community of about 800 inhabitants, located on the far-bank of River-Kaduna confluence in Igabi local government area of the State. The major occupation of Makwalla locals is subsistence farming with high fertility rate.

    In Makwalla, the reproductive aged women have reportedly been educated about child-spacing (family planning) methods, but they don’t have access to it. They don’t also understand how to make use of what they have as traditional pregnancy spacing. There is no single health facility that can take care of the over 800 persons in the community. This made a lot of persons to fall victims of unattended illhealth.

    The latest victim is a 30-year-old mother of 12, Zainab Abu also called “Mama Dozen” for her ability to birth and nuture 12 children all alive. Her husband Kabiru Hassan is a subsistence farmer. Through Zainab, the family has unique records of twins. She had given birth to twins three times after having eight children, lost two, before she eventually gavebirth to the quadruplets.

    Like many other women in her category, the idea of going for antenatal care was a mirage. There was never a time she knows how many foetuses she’s carrying until she delivers, sometimes with the help of traditional birth attendants and sometimes, through self-help. She is one of the lucky few to be alive after given birth to a dozen without visiting a hospital.

    Many other children who where born either alone or in sets in Makwalla hardly celebrate one year birthday. The mothers, sometimes, lose their babies after going through prolonged child labour.

    To Zainab, the absence of a nearby primary healthcare centre or health post frustrated her thought of getting medicare each time she was pregnant. Although Zainab is not the only woman that found herself in this category but her giving birth to quadruplets brought her to the public space. On daily basis Journalists and researchers throng Makwalla in search of Zainab and her likes so as to furnish themselves with facts.

    “….The major problem we have here is distance. There is also no safe transport means to go to the hospital inside the town….” Zainab said

    Zainab added that she has gone through serious pains and stress while trying to birth her Quadruplates. “ban taba sani irin zafin na ba” meaning “she has never had this pain” she said in Hausa language.

    TNG gathered that the closest reliable hospital to Makwalla is faraway across the River-Kaduna which involves using the local commercial canoes to cross the River to get to the hospital or alternatively, motorcycles can be used to go to a nieghbouring communities whose health system are not reliable but better without non.

    “….once it is 6:30 pm, the canoe operators are off the river bank. So, any woman on labour at night can only be managed within the village” Zainab said.

    For his part, Zainab’s husband, Kabiru Hassan, who confirmed that what his wife narrated is true, expressed his displeasure over government negligence on Makwalla considering it’s location. “If you go to the southern states, you will notice that riverine communities are given serious attention but here in the north it is different…..” Hassan said. He added that his wife has never gone for any medical diagnosis or antenatal since they got married. We have been giving birth at home with or without assistance from traditional birth attendants. “My wife has 12 kids but some have died.” Hassan said.

    The District Head of Makwalla who lives on the other side of Makwalla called Kurmi, Mohammadu Bashiru, lamented the plights of reproductive aged women in his community, calling on the authorities concern to build, equip and staff functional Primary Health Care (PHC) Facilities in the area to handle the health needs of the people.

    JIGAWA:

    From Kaduna to Jigawa, the story didn’t change. TNG Proceeded to Jigawa State where more shocking revelations emerged.

    Jigawa borders the Republic of Niger to the north and the Nigerian states of Yobe to the northeast, Bauchi to the southeast and south, Kano to the southwest, and Katsina to the northwest. The state consists mostly of plains covered by wooded savanna in the south and scrub vegetation in the north. It is drained by the Hadejia River, a seasonal stream that flows northeastward through the state. The state’s major crops include peanuts (groundnuts), sorghum, cotton, cowpeas, millet, and the rice grown in the river valley. The herding of cattle, goats, and sheep is widespread.

    Jigawa is a largely rural state with roughly 50% of the population living in poverty (Annual Abstracts of Statistics 2019). In particular, 9.3% are living in extreme poverty and 41.4% are living in moderate poverty. This has not change the attitude of governance in the state as the state still cannot afford health coverage for everyone. TNG touched down Ruru town where the health care delivery system remains the same.

    Located in Dutse Local government area, Ruru town is 10.5 km from the state capital Dutse with more than 30, 000 population Ruru has only 1 dilapidated antenatal hospital with no single staff. This forces pregnant women and nursing mothers to treck on feeder roads about 6.5 km weekly for vaccines and antenatal.

    Hafsat Umar living in Kudai town told TNG that Kudai hospital is the only nearby hospital for Ruru’s inhabitants to attend every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for weekly return (feedback) and emergency delivery. “You will see pregnant women and nursing mothers from Ruru town in group trecking under the sun or rain in this feeder road to Kudai for vaccines and weekly routine despite them having high ranking politicians, government officials and business men in the state and national levels….” she added.

    Mallam Bala, a neighbor to the hospital said Journalists and researchers have been coming to check, and and take photograph of the hospital and promised to take report to the government but yet there has not been any improvement.

    TNG ran into a lady of about 19 years with her baby in her hand. “….My name is INDO…I am coming from Ruru going to Kudai… I am trecking because I don’t have money and my husband too is broke, and the vaccine is very important and our antenatal clinic is no longer functioning…. I trecked for 4 hours….”

    KANO:

    Second most populous state in Nigeria and most populous state in Northern Nigeria. Kano Population is very significant to the political class considering the key determinant of election results which is numbers.

    Over the years, the people of Kano having noticed their advantage of numbers have continued to pride themselves as the most valuable persons in the country hence their motto in Hausa language “Kano ta dabo Timbin Giwa Koda me kazo an fi ka” meaning tranliterarilly “Kano the heritage, the Elephant’s big Stomach, no matter what you arrive here with, we are better than you….” This general pride has sinked into generations in Kano. Politicians are aware of this fact and so they play along with what they feel the people of Kano wants. But this did know show in some areas of health care delivery.

    In Gada, the last village in Kano State before one crosses to Jigawa state from kano, there are three communties living their, there major work is fadama farming. They have only one antenatal clinic with 2 staff, they have to reach birnin kudu local government or Dutse general hospital when there are emergencies such as accidents and delivery. The distance between Gada to Birnin kudu is about 20km like wise Dutse the Jigawa state capital another closer city to them.

    These three villages according to locals who spoke to TNG jostle for any means of transportation going to either Birnin Kudu of Dutse.

    One funny fact is that Gada and it’s surrounding communities are under Kano State but are depending on Birnin Kudu and Dutse, which are towns under Jigawa State, a state far poorer than Kano.

    Conclusive Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa remains the gate way to Northwestern Nigeria from any part of the country and while they are battling to secure their terrain from the influx of banditry, it is also very important that the three states take the welfare and health of their citizens into consideration.

  • May Day: Rep Ogbeide-Ihama praises healthcare workers in frontline of COVID-19

    May Day: Rep Ogbeide-Ihama praises healthcare workers in frontline of COVID-19

    As May Day is being commemorated, Rep Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, Member, Representing Oredo Federal Constituency and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Culture and Tourism has praised healthcare workers in the frontline of the fight against Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Rep Ogbeide-Ihama as saying that while the pandemic has clouded celebrations, with an atmosphere of confusion and fear, the spirit of workers is strong and resolute and their passion and readiness to discharge their duties is unquestionable.

    He stated that if provided the right leadership to work with, most of the concerns mentioned earlier would not be as troubling as they are presently and that times like this should awaken everyone to the need for creative and innovative thinking targeted at improving the lots of workers.

    “It is May 1st. In ideal circumstances, I should begin by saying Happy Workers Day; but these are not ideal circumstances. The present pandemic has clouded our celebrations with an atmosphere of confusion, fear for our health and those of our families, expectations of a bleak economy post-covid-19, and uncertainty about whether workers will still have jobs when this is over.

    “In spite of all the negative permutations, two things are key; one, the spirit of the Edo worker is strong and resolute and their passion and readiness to discharge their duties is unquestionable. Two, if provided the right leadership to work with, most of the concerns mentioned earlier would not be as troubling as they are presently.

    “This year’s Workers’ Day coming at a time like this presents a very good opportunity for leadership to begin to re-examine the issues of workers’ welfare, working conditions, re-organization of administrative structures and systems, increased use of ICT in administrative operations with attendant capacity building, and increased creation of jobs through strategic diversification of the state’s revenue sources.

    “Times like this should awaken us to the need for creative and innovative thinking targeted at improving the lots of our dear workers.

    “Despite the situation and in line with this year’s theme ‘Stop the Pandemic’ we celebrate our workers, most especially those in the health sector working to protect us from a ravaging enemy. We thank them for their selfless service and sacrifice, as we also thank all other workers for their dedication and commitment to driving the engine that keeps our state running.

    “I assure you that with fresh ideas and new ways of thinking, the future holds hope and prosperity for you and your loved ones. Thank you again, and Happy Workers Day,” Rep Ogbeide-Ihama stated.

  • Osun won $20m to boost healthcare system – FG

    The Federal Government says Osun State Government has won $20 million under the Save One Million Lives Initiative to kick start the improvement of healthcare system.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, disclosed this while receiving Mr Adeboyega Oyetola, the Osun state Governor, in Abuja.

    Adewole who said that the $20 million would soon be released to the state, added that Osun was also one of the pilot states to benefit from the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF).

    The fund was provided by the National Health Act (2014) as a special intervention to improve healthcare delivery system at all levels.

    The minister therefore advised Oyetola to key into the National Strategic Health Development Plan II for effective synergy between the federal and Osun state gpvernments.

    Adewole renewed the commitment of the ministry to work with the newly inaugurated Osun State Government to create model healthcare system that all other states would emulate.

    Earlier, Dr Ibrahim Kana, National Coordinator, Save One Million Lives Programme, urged the governor to introduce compulsory health insurance scheme that would cover the formal and informal sectors.

    Also speaking, Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaibu, pledged to provide technical assistance for managing primary healthcare under one roof.

    Responding, the governor appreciated the minister for his support towards building quality healthcare system in Osun state.

    He assured that the special healthcare intervention fund of $20 million would be judiciously utilised to improve the health of citizens.

  • 2018 Budget: Why NASS includes additional funding for Primary Healthcare

    Senator Lanre Tejuoso, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, has revealed why the National Assembly, included funding for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the 2018 Appropriations Bill.

    In a press statement delivered to newsmen in Abuja, Senator Tejuoso stated that: “While the Executive did not include the BHCPF in the 2018 Appropriation Bill submitted to the National Assembly, the Senate embarked upon a phenomenal task of ensuring the inclusion of BHCPF in the 2018 appropriation and its effective implementation.

    “The Senate mandated its Committee on Appropriation to work out a modality for accommodating the Fund in the 2018 appropriation. The Senate Committee on Health through the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the Legislative Network on Universal Health Care (UHC) held series of sensitization, capacity building and media parleys to galvanize support towards implementation of the BHCPF and reiterate the commitment of the National Assembly towards the cause.”

    Tejuoso added that the push to ensure that there was increased funding in the 2018 budget was a clear demonstration of the commitment and responsiveness of the 8th Senate, under the leadership of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, who is also a medical doctor, to ensure that the healthcare needs of Nigerians are met.

    “I am happy to inform you that the Senate President and the Senate Committee on Health have lived up to their promise to Nigerians by including the BHCPF in the 2018 Appropriation Bill. By this important milestone, we have demonstrated our collective and sustained will to harness and align our human and other resources towards transforming the health landscape in Nigeria.

    “We have to remain vigilant to ensure that nothing scuttles our collective will towards actualizing the dream of affordable universal health care for all Nigerians. It is my vision that one day, Nigeria health care system will be a model for other African countries and the country will be a reputable destination for medical tourism,” the Senator representing Ogun Central said.

     

  • I Go Dye builds hospital for community

    I Go Dye builds hospital for community

    Nigerian comedian, I Go Dye isn’t just another social critic that comments on national issues, the entertainer has shown his benevolent side by building a healthcare centre in his community of Ovu, Delta State.

    The showbiz practitioner took to his Instagram page to share the picture of what looks like a high class edifice meant to serve as healthcare hospital for the people of Ovu, in Delta State and environs.

    In his words: “The challenges facing most people across Nigeria is the same, irrespective of our religious, political and ethnic backgrounds; in line with the United Nations Goal 3 ,I have commenced the building of an health care hospital in my community. We can make life more beautiful than we met it,” he writes .

     

    The comedian is fast becoming popular for his fervent stance on national issues. Recall that he queried former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s genuineness in using the Nigerian youths as the reason to drive his campaign agenda in a bid to gun for the presidential seat in the 2019 elections.

    He wrote:” Don’t use sentimental empathy on the youths to express your political ambitions. Sir, you are one of those that have immensely benefited from Nigeria since your birth in 1946”.

     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BioZH9qA1tf/?taken-by=igodye_

  • Nigeria assures international partners of commitment to strengthen healthcare

    Nigeria has assured its international partners in healthcare that it is committed to strengthening the healthcare system across the country.

    Consul-General of Nigeria at Atlanta, Mr Kayode Laro, made the pledge at the Nigeria Day to celebrate MedShare 20 years of strengthening healthcare in Nigeria.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MedShare, a U.S.-based non-profit organisation, has donated more than 40 million dollars worth of new medical supplies and biomedical equipment to Nigeria.

    Many State Governments, University Teaching Hospitals, community clinics and military hospitals have benefitted from the donation in the last 20 years, according to records.

     

    Laro commended MedShare for contributing significantly to strengthening healthcare in Nigeria.

     

    “To address the concerns of my compatriots, I should note that improving healthcare is a major and indeed a strategic goal of the Federal and State Governments in Nigeria.

     

    “But having adequate supplies of equipment and medical disposables is crucial to the attainment of this goal.

     

    “The important work that MedShare does in this regard, highlights the vital roles that non-profit organisations like MedShare can play when government and other stakeholders engage them in a strategic partnership.

     

    “This, as we’ve seen, can become a win-win for all concerned. Going forward, we in the Consulate would like to see many more years of mutually-beneficial cooperation between Nigeria and MedShare.

     

    “And we would certainly do all we can to facilitate this. I should not fail to recognise the crucial support that MedShare has received from the corporate world.

     

    “Including from the corporate titans such as Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines for the benefit of healthcare in Nigeria. For this, we in the Consulate say a very big ‘thank you’

    The Nigerian envoy commended MedShare partnership with key players in the health sector of Nigeria and for organising the Nigeria Day event.

     

    According to him, it shows the importance that MedShare attaches to its partnership with Nigeria.

     

    “I appreciate the important role that MedShare plays and the depth of the organisation’s partnership with Nigeria. This gives me the excitement to know more about MedShare.

     

    “In its 20 years of partnership with Nigeria, MedShare has donated medical supplies and equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to hospitals across Nigeria.

     

    “By doing so, MedShare has contributed significantly to strengthening healthcare in Nigeria,” the Nigerian envoy said.

     

    President, Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) USA, Ms Patience Key, expressed delight at MedShare contributions to the healthcare system in Nigeria.

     

    Key said strengthening healthcare in Nigeria, among others, were in line with the goal and vision of NIDO Americas.

     

    She said: “Our goals has always been to broker direct foreign investment to Nigeria, broker business partnerships with Americans and many other countries in the world.

     

    “I just want to very quickly say a very big thank you to MedShare for this contributions and honour to Nigeria.

     

    “We are hoping that other organisations in America are going to take a leaf out of what you – MedShare – are doing and be partner with Nigeria and Nigerians on a good course”.

     

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that corporate organisations like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines were recognised at the event.

     

    Delta Airlines was recognised for helping to deliver some of the medical supplies and equipment directly to Nigeria while Coca-Cola was recognised for sponsoring some of the projects.

     

    Vice-President, International Development of MedShare, Ms Nell Diallo, asked Nigeria to challenge corporate organisations making billions of dollars out of the country to sponsor such laudable initiatives in the country.

     

    The event witnessed a send-off for a donation of medical supplies and equipment to Nigeria.

     

    Many Nigerian organisations and individuals who sponsored the shipment of some of the medical supplies and equipment also attended the event.

     

    Teenager found hanging in Sokoto

  • Edo Govt partners Cedarcrest Hospital on primary healthcare

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the state government will partner private healthcare service provider, Cedarcrest Hospital, in driving the state’s Primary Healthcare reforms.

    Governor Obaseki said this when he received the Medical Director, Cedarcrest Hospital, Abuja, Dr. Felix Ogedegbe, at the Government House, Benin City.

    The governor said the state government is driving reforms to improve the standard of healthcare delivery in the state, with a grand-plan to re-vamp the healthcare system and attract investors.

    He said, “The aim of our reforms is to improve the healthcare system and provide access to quality healthcare to Edo people. A wing of the specialist hospital was built with the objective to partner with private healthcare providers, who have the experience and resources to collaborate with government to provide better medical care. This is expected to end medical tourism.”

    Obaseki commended Dr. Ogedegbe for establishing a medical hospital of international standard in Abuja, noting, “Similar investment can be replicated here in Edo through collaboration with the state government. Edo State prides itself as a state with capable human resources. We are proud to identify with Dr. Ogedegbe to deliver excellent healthcare.”

    On his part, Dr. Ogedegbe applauded Governor Obaseki for providing leadership capable of transforming the state, adding “Cedarcrest Hospital is ready to partner with the state government to provide complex, surgical and medical procedures. We have the resources to save the country’s foreign exchange and end medical tourism.”

    He added, “Cedarcrest is reputed for providing quality healthcare services to prominent Nigerians and we are open to replicating similar services here in Edo State and to review how we can provide quality and affordable healthcare services in the state.”

     

  • Mrs Buhari decries women’s condition, child health in Nigeria

    The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, on Tuesday decried poor conditions of maternal and child health in Nigeria.

    Mrs Buhari expressed the concern at the inauguration of the 50-bed capacity Maternal and children clinic built and equipped by the Aisha Buhari Foundation in Daura, Katsina State.

    She said that the situation became possible due to the poor conditions of the primary healthcare facilities.

    ” Let me reiterate that maternal and child mortality is a serious health challenge which requires support from all quarters before it can be tamed.

    Mrs Buhari called on stakeholders and well-to-do Nigerians to put in their best and turn the tide by addressing the challenges women faced.

    She said this prompted her to venture into the programme of promoting health of women as a cardinal mission in her life.

    Mrs Buhari added that the intervention was aimed at complementing the Federal Government’s effort in providing primary healthcare services to the less privileged families in Nigeria.

    The wife of the president said that the health of women and children was at the front burner of development discourse.

    She said, the National Health Policy had been drawn to lay emphasis on primary healthcare as the bedrock of our national health system.

    According to her, this becomes pertinent because most of the killer diseases affecting women and children are rampant at the primary level.

    ” Beyond diseases, the challenges women face trying to access medical care during pregnancy and childbirth are enormous and during childbirth, women are at their most vulnerable state; as such need a lot of attention and support.”

    She said that the facility, constructed in seven-months, was equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to handle vital checks, laboratory tests for in and out-patients as well as surgeries.

    Mrs Buhari expressed te hope that the facility would serve the purpose it was meant for by reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in the areas.

    She also urged Katsina State Government to provide the necessary staff and logistics to enable the complex operate at maximum capacity.

    From the inauguration venue, the wife of the president proceeded to Daura Motel, where she was honored by the wife of the state Governor, Mrs Zakiya Masari, as the African Empowerment Legend.

    Mrs Masari said that the award became necessary due to Mrs Buhari’s efforts in providing humanitarian services to the less privileged families in Nigeria