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Tag: Osagie Ehanire

  • FG raises alarm over new mother-to-child HIV infections

    FG raises alarm over new mother-to-child HIV infections

    The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has expressed concern over new paediatric HIV infections in children aged 0-4 years.

    He expressed his worry during a national dialogue on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dialogue was organised by the National AIDS/STIs Control Programme of the Federal Ministry of Health.

    He said that in spite of significant achievements in HIV Programme, there were persisting poor outcomes in PMTCT, noting that the dialogue was prompted by the urgency to scale-up sustainable programmes for PMTCT of HIV to eliminate new HIV infections among children.

    He said “Nigeria, being one of the 21 priority countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for the elimination of vertical transmission of HIV, committed to and endorsed The Global Plan.

    “We agreed to be held accountable for achieving the set targets by 2015. Since then, we implemented several pillars cutting across leadership, policy and coordination.”

    He, however, said that “data still points to overall underachievement in key result areas, including PMTCT.

    “For example, PMTCT coverage is only 37 per cent and 21,000 new paediatric HIV infections recorded in children aged 0-4 years in 2019.”

    According to him, the growing cases is unacceptable.

    Ehanire explained that major bottlenecks impacting PMTCT negatively included the variable coverage of Antenatal care (ANC) services, unmet need for family planning, poor testing coverage for pregnant women and poor tracking and retention in care for HIV exposed infants, among others.

    “Overall, we estimate that 88 per cent of pregnant women who test positive are on anti-retrovirals (ARVs).”

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr Adulaziz Mashi Abdullahi, said the dialogue was to provide a platform for all actors to agree on key next steps toward achieving the goal of elimination mother-to-child transmission of HIVAIDS in the country.

    Abdullahi added that the ministry expected stakeholders to review efforts, political and technical issues hindering the achievement of the set goal.

    He noted that special attention was paid to optimising PMTCT at health facilities and scaling up targeted community testing of pregnant women, improving demand creation and HIV case finding among pregnant women and improving Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services.

    Dr Gambo Aliyu, the Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), however, said that in spite of unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 350,000 Persons Living with HIV (PLWHIV) were identified in the last 18 months.

    He added that “the 350,000 people identified were put under treatment in the last 18 months in spite of COVID-19.

    “This number is a break from the previous 50,000 to 60,000 a year.”

    Aliyu said NACA accessed some rural communities and maintained services to be able to identify cases.

    He explained that “from a few numbers of one-stop shops, it increased to 60 one-stop shops all over the country and all these accounted to the 350,000 we were able to identify, instead of the traditional 50,000 to 60,000 people.

    “Results from the Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS) conducted in 2018 shows about 1.9 million people under the age of 64 are living with HIV.”

    On mother-to-child HIV transmission, Aliyu said there was need to tweak the existing strategy to stop the transmission.

    The NACA boss, who said that the number of women on HIV treatment had greatly improved between 2006 and 2019, emphasised that “it is not the PMTCT that is not working, it is the strategy that we have to tweak.

    “If you look at the numbers we had as far back as 2006, we had about 13,000 women on treatment.

    “As of 2019, about 421,000 women on treatment; this is over 200 per cent increase.”

    He, however, lamented that six million out of eight million pregnant women were not attending antenatal care.

    “So, we are battling with two million that are attending antenatal care in implementing these services; for those that we have access to the services are delivered well.”

    He noted that the only way to eliminate MTCT was to take services to the community level, adding that “if we can do that, I guarantee all of us that in the next 18 months, we will see huge rebound that we noticed with ART surge.”

  • What we have done to prevent importation of fake COVID-19 vaccines – FG

    What we have done to prevent importation of fake COVID-19 vaccines – FG

    Following the arrest of about 3,000 doses of fake Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines destined for Africa from China, the federal government (FG) has revealed a measure put in place to prevent the importation of fake vaccines into the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this is contained in a circular released by Dr Adebimpe Adebiyi, the Director, Department of Hospital Service, Federal Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire in Abuja.

    The circular followed a letter from the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 regarding the arrest of about 3,000 doses of fake COVID-19 vaccines destined for Africa from China.

    The minister, who acknowledged receipt of the PTF letter, however, stated that “I am, therefore, to bring this to your notice and dispel any possibility of COVID-19 vaccines being available for sale or being administered by any unauthorised institution.

    “To prevent the importation of fake vaccines, kindly note that the Nigeria Customs Service has designated the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, as the only Point of Entry (PoE) for imported COVID-19 vaccines.”

    He then called the attention of chief medical directors and medical directors of federal tertiary health institutions to the fake COVID-19 vaccines destined for Africa, noting that it had been arrested in China.

  • 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.

  • Minister addresses private importation of COVID-19 shots

    Minister addresses private importation of COVID-19 shots

    The Federal Government has not authorised private importation of COVID-19 vaccines, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has said.

    Enahire made this known during the Presidential Tasks Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.

    ”Private importation of COVID-19 vaccines has not been authorised due to reports of substandard falsified vaccines in circulation.

    ”The deployment of vaccines will be handled by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) or any of the agency’s accredited facilities for now,” the minister said.

    Speaking on the ongoing concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccines, the minister reassured that the vaccines were safe and no adverse effects had been recorded in the country.

    “The president, vice president, other leaders, frontline health workers have taken the vaccines and are all doing well”, he said.

    The minster also said that the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have developed a Health safety app to enable those who have been vaccinate report any adverse reaction.

    ”We are working with state commissioners for health to meet the COVID-19 support fund requirements.

    ”We assure all states and local governments that the promised support fund for the process would be paid as soon as the formalities were compete.

    “I urge all states to use existing resources so that there are no hitches in the exercise before the disbursement”, he said.

    So far, 8,000 jabs have been administered across 34 states and the FCT with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines, except Kogi.

    Kogi state is yet to establish a fully functional cold chain facility in order to recieve its allocation.

  • FG to spend $8 per person to vaccinate Nigerians against COVID-19

    FG to spend $8 per person to vaccinate Nigerians against COVID-19

    The federal government (FG) has revealed plans to spend 8 US Dollars per person to vaccinate Nigerians against the dreadful Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire made this known on Monday in Abuja while briefing the Senate leadership on the FG plans to procure COVID-19 vaccines worth N400 billion for citizens.

    Ehanire said the FG government was substantially ready for a successful COVID-19 vaccination to save the lives of citizens but the leadership of the Senate expressed doubts.

    However, the minister argued that the country had successfully fought polio, and that the same storage facilities (cold chains) would be used to store the COVID-19 vaccines.

    He urged the Senate to have confidence in the plan for COVID-19 vaccine campaign.

    He said that about N400 billion would be required to vaccinate 70 per cent of Nigeria’s 211 million population, at eight dollars per person.

    According to him, N156 billion will be needed in 2021 while N200 billion in 2022.

    In his remarks, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan expressed doubt over the ability of the Federal Ministry of Health to effectively store and distribute the COVID-19 vaccines when they arrive in the country.

    Lawan said the National Assembly was ready to support the funding of adequate vaccines to save Nigerians.

    He noted that officials of the Ministry of Health must convince the parliament that they had adequate facilities and manpower to protect the preventive substance.

    “I have not been convinced with your presentation that we are ready to bring in the vaccines.

    “You have to do much more to convince me that we are ready,” he added.

  • Ehanire explains why FMC, Lokoja remains shut 4 months after

    Ehanire explains why FMC, Lokoja remains shut 4 months after

    The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has advanced reasons why the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Lokoja, remained closed four months after the facility was attacked by some armed thugs.

    Responding to a question at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) media briefing on COVID-19, on Tuesday in Abuja, Ehanire said Governor Yahaya Bello still has issues with the hospital yet to be cleared, noting, however, that a team from the Federal ministry of health is being raised to engagement with him and the hospital management in order to resolve the impasse.

    Bello had insisted that the state was free of Coronavirus pandemic. But suspected hoodlums stormed the FMC in the early hours of Wednesday, July 1, destroying the administrative block and carting away computers and files allegedly related to COVID-19.

    The protesters, said to number about 50, stormed the premises with placards and dangerous weapons, attacking and destroying valuables.

    The timely intervention of men of the State Police Command, however, prevented more damages.

    The state government, in its reaction, said that preliminary findings revealed that the violence started when relations of patients in the medical facility protested against the failure of the management of the hospital to attend to them.

    Asked for an update on why the only hospital where ordinary citizens, who cannot afford the luxury of private clinics, was still closed, Ehanire said: “We are engaging with the Medical Director who is preparing to re-open but at the same time, we are still trying to iron out the issue with the governor, who has his own complaint about the operations of the hospital. That issue is being handled by the Minister of State who first spoke with the governor and the medical director.

    “We shall soon come up with a team to go and iron out the issue so that the people of Lokoja and Kogi State can begin to get treatment and medical attention.”

  • Why we called off strike – Resident doctors

    …FG carpets resident doctors, says strike needless

    The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Sunday suspended its indefinite strike which started on June 15, following a meeting between the association and Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in Abuja.

    NARD President, Dr Aliyu Sokomba, who announced this while addressing a news conference in Abuja, said “NEC has resolved to suspend the ongoing indefinite strike with effect from Monday June 22, 2020 by 8a.m. prompt.

    “The national officers shall continue negotiations with stakeholders and progress made shall be reviewed in four weeks during the next National Executive Council meeting in July 2020.

    “The decision to suspend the strike was taken in order to give the Federal and State Governments time to fulfill the outstanding demands following an appeal by the Speaker of House of Representative, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chairman Nigeria Governors Forum and other stakeholder”.

    He acknowledged the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) in some hospitals but said there were still need for sustained supplies.

    The president also announced that the Medical Residency Training fund had been included in the revised 2020 budget through the intervention of Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and would be implemented as soon as the budget was assented to by the President.

    He, however, gave the Federal Government four weeks to make good its promises.

    “At the same time, we await the fulfillment of the promise made by the Nigeria Governors Forum to ensure same is done in all the states.

    “On the salary shortfall for 2014-2016, The Secretary to the Government of the federation has promised to intervene.

    “Government has shown commitment to secure group life insurance for health workers. That the disengaged resident doctors at Jos University Teaching Hospital have been reinstated, the Chief Medical Director has been directed to pay their withheld salaries and comply with the provisions of the Medical Residency.

    “On State Tertiary Health Institutions (STHIs), the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum Gov. Kayode Fayemi and the Director General Mr Asishana Okauru, appealed to be given time to discuss with other state Governors of Kogi, Gombe, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, kaduna, Nasarawa , Enugu, Anabara, Abia and Imo for immediate pay parity with the corrected CONMESS of 2019 and that salary shortfalls due our members will be paid shortly.

    “NARD also met with Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo state who also gave his words to favourably look into all challenges of our members in LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso with a view to abiding by the international standard.

    “That the Executive Governors of Delta and Benue from reports by our members have been supportive although more needs to be done.

    “NEC observed that COVID-19 inducement allowance has only been paid to 11 federal health institutions and most state governments are yet to review the hazard allowance of health workers,” he said.

    FG carpets Resident Doctors, says strike needless

    Meanwhile, the federal government has said the strike by the NARD was “needless and insensitive” because issues raised by the association had received attention.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed made this known at a media briefing on Sunday in Abuja.

    The briefing was jointly addressed by Mohammed and Ministers of Health,Mr Osagie Ehanire, Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige.

    Mohammed noted that the strike embarked upon by the Doctors since June 12 was uncalled for, considering the facts the government had responded to their needs and requests.

    “It is pertinent to say that the issues raised by the association while issuing its ultimatum on June 1, have received or are receiving full attention,” he said

    Specifically, the minister said that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have been supplied to all States and Federal Tertiary Hospitals and funds for the same were being provided in the revised 2020 budget.

    He said the implementation of the Residency Training programme was backed by the National Assembly, which provided ₦4 billion in the revised 2020 budget.

    “We have paid N9 billion as premium for Group Life Insurance to all our health workers and over N4.6 billion as Special Hazard Allowance to health workers as already acknowledged in at least 35 hospitals.

    “In summary, a total of 55,031 health workers have been paid comprising of 23 COVID-19 designated Hospitals and Medical Centres and 8 non-COVID-19 designated centres amounting to over N7.9 billion,” he said

    He added that other matters relating to non-payment of arrears dating back as 2014 or salaries owed by State Governments, were either in court, or beyond the power of the Federal Ministry of Health to resolve.

    On addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the minister said apart from the provision of PPEs and other equipment, the federal government expanded testing laboratories from two to 38.

    He said government have trained over 13,000 health workers on Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) as well as developed policy and protocols for testing returning Nigerians.

    Mohammed said government has evolved policies and protocols for integration of primary healthcare into national response and increased isolation centre bed space from 3,000 to more than 5,000 nationwide.

    The minister expressed concerns that the doctors still opted for the strike ins pite of addressing all issues raised and negotiations facilitated by the National Assembly.

    “We must express the government’s consternation that resident doctors will choose a time like this, when we are battling a pandemic, to embark on a strike.

    “This negates what obtains in other parts of the world, where health workers are rallying around their governments to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Nigeria must be among, if not the only nation, where doctors – who are classified as essential workers – have opted for a strike during a national health emergency,” he said

    Mohammed noted that, though many options were opened to the federal government in tackling the strike, yet it chose negotiation over confrontation.

    On his part, Ngige said it was a dire time for any sector, particularly the heath sector to embark on strike.

    He re-echoed that all issues raised by the Doctors had been met by the Government and they should have trust in the Federal Ministry of Health.

    The minister disclosed that the leadership of NARD contacted him by midnight and hinted on the suspension of the strike.

    Speaking in the same vein, Ehanire said it was not time for acrimony and all hands must be on deck for the country to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and salvage the health sector.

  • FG identifies group of citizens for special COVID-19 care

    FG identifies group of citizens for special COVID-19 care

    The federal government in tackling the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the country has identified a group of Nigerians for special protection against the disease.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire made this known at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTFCOVID19) press briefing on Thursday.

    According to the Minister of Health, this is because majority of COVID-19 fatalities are over 50 years of age or have preexisting ailments. He identified the group of Nigerians as those with cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, and people living with HIV.

    “We have said that the increasing number of cases should be a warning that fatalities will increase too; but there are measures we can take, to limit case fatality rate.

    “Since majority of fatalities are over 50 years of age, or have preexisting ailments like diabetes, cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, HIV, etc, this group of citizens has to be specially protected,” he said.

    In his remarks, Ehanire addressed how to carry out the special protection. Read remarks below:

    The Nigeria Center for Disease Control yesterday announced 587 new confirmed covid-19 cases, increasing the total tally to 17,735. We have treated and discharged 5,967 persons and 469 persons have sadly been lost to the disease.

    2. We have said that the increasing number of cases should be a warning that fatalities will increase too; but there are measures we can take, to limit case fatality rate

    a. Since majority of fatalities are over 50 years of age, or have preexisting ailments like diabetes, cancer, hypertension, kidney disease, HIV, etc, this group of citizens has to be specially protected.

    b. This protection begins with limiting their exposure to risks of covid19 infection by urging stay at home, except there is urgent and dire need to go out.

    c. To wear a face mask or a covering at any time, once outside the house, or when inside the house with persons who may have been exposed.

    d. To observe all other non pharmaceutical advisory, like frequent hand washing, social distancing, respiratory hygiene, sanitizer use, etc.

    e. I must emphasize that going to places where there can be a crowd, like market or also places of worship carries risk of increased exposure. l also stress that being in a closed room increases the risk of exposure to infection in proportion to the number of people and the length of time spent with them, because the likelihood of presence of a positive person increases with the number and infection with time of exposure.

    f. All persons in the vulnerable group who test positive should go to a treatment center immediately, in their own best interest. A vuln5person is not among those who should risk staying at home, because complications can arise easily and suddenly or at an odd hour of the day or night when there will be no immediate help available.

    g. Any person who tested positive and opted to stay home or elsewhere should move to a treatment center at the first sign of fever or shortness or breath. A delay can be fatal because the disease progression can be unpredictable and faster than imagined.

    h. Witherspoon these important measures, we could mitigate the fatality rate. The novel coronavirus is still among us and is infecting people daily, including prominent members of the society. Friends and family have an increasingly important role to play in helping to guide compliance with this advisory. Till it goes away, whenever that is, we must take extreme precaution when going to public places.

    3. I also had the honour yesterday, of joining Mr. President at the China-Africa Extraordinary Summit on Solidarity Against the COVID-19 pandemic, where the desirability of sharing knowledge from research and experience was emphasized, as PTF Chair has reported. This is of value to us because China has considerable experience with covid19.

    4.​Earlier yesterday, I signed a bilateral agreement with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on cooperation in the area of public health and medical sciences. The agreement is to start cooperation between both countries in these areas:

    (a) Exchanging experience in public health and health sciences

    (b) Facilitation of visits by scientists and Exchanging information in research.

    5.​On Monday, 15th June, 2020, I inaugurated the governing council of the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, where the Council was charged to refocus aspects of the profession to meet up with the realities of today as the Covid-19 Pandemic has brought medicine security to the fore front.

    6. ​We have updated the case management guidelines with reviewed changes like discharge criteria and medication used for the treatment of cases. Our treatment centers will be getting an advisory to test applicability of a drug recently repurposed and found effective for treatment of COVID-19

    7.​The engagement of States and support for them in

    management of covid19 will continue to increase with increased capacity building. The Ministry of Health will also be prioritizing the procurement of oxygen generators alongside ventilators as our experience so far shows that oxygen supplementation is in high demand in treatment.

    8.​Thank you for your attention.

  • How COVID-19 is affecting routine health services across Nigeria

    How COVID-19 is affecting routine health services across Nigeria

    Latest statistics from the National Health Management Information System (NHMIS) indicate that out-patient visit to hospitals across Nigeria dropped from 4 million to about 2 million as attention has been shifted to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health made this known on Thursday during the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

    In his remarks, Dr Ehanire revealed that antenatal visits dropped from 1.3 million to 655 thousand, skilled birth attendance dropped from 158,374 to less than 99 thousand, and that immunization services reduced to about half.

    The Minister of Health stressed in his remarks that all these failings have as yet undetermined consequences, which the easing of the lockdown should hopefully address.

    Read Minister’s remarks below

    Protocol.

    Yesterday, 13th of May 2020, 184 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in 22 states. A breakdown of the cases by States shows Lagos (51), Jigawa 23, Bauchi(16), Katsina(16), Kano(14), FCT(10), Rivers(10), Kwara(9), Delta(5), Kaduna(5), Sokoto(4), Oyo(4), Kebbi(3), Nasarawa (3), Osun(3), Ondo(2), Ebonyi(1), Edo(1), Enugu(1), Anambra(1), Plateau (1), Niger (1) with 6 fatalities recorded in the same period. The total number of cases in Nigeria so far has reached 4,971, with sadly 164 fatalities. So far, 1071 cases have been treated and discharged.

    2. As we inch towards significant milestones in our COVID-19 statistics, we are looking at all options to adjust our approach to the emerging situation. The Federal Ministry of Health and its Agencies particularly the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency have scaled up training in Infection Prevention and Control, case finding and management, Emergency Patient Transport Systems, Surveillance Outbreak Response Management Analysis System (SORMAS), down to training of hygienists, stretcher bearers and security personnel. This will increase confidence in the health system, reduce instances of Health worker infection and desertion and improve overall performance.

    3. ​We have also deployed commodities like PPE and other supplies to States and Federal Health Institutions, and in addition continued with supplies to laboratories to forestall much reported delays arising from shortages.

    4.​These measures and others are to address the needs reported to us by the FMoH team, presently deployed in Kano, which has also paid exploratory visits to Jigawa, Bauchi and Katsina and is preparing to visit Sokoto and Bornu very soon. Part of the needs already identified is the urgent necessity of on site laboratories with molecular diagnostic capacity, to reduce the presently extended turnaround time for results. Practical, hand-holding personnel training has been requested for some of the health systems, who have had very little experience in the past, with Infectious disease management. To this end, more personnel is to be deployed from the Federal Infectious Disease Specialist Hospital Irrua, while the kind offer of Lagos and Ekiti State Governors will also be drawn upon to send health workers to assist. Stepdown training will be a priority in the entire excercise to build capacity across the board to the level of community health workers, in the bid to sustain safe and comprehensive delivery of services.

    5. The Federal Ministries of Health and of the Federal Capital Territory held a ministerial meeting today and agreed on a firm, synergistic framework for collaboration and cooperation to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 within the Federal Capital territory. A joint committee led by the Hon. Minister of State for Health and including their Permanent Secretaries was set up to oversee the ThisDay Dome COVID-19 treatment facility, recently handed over to the 2 ministries. The initial medical team is to be headed by the Chief Medical Director of Federal Teaching Hospital Irrua. The Ministers also paid an inspection visit to the 600 bed COVID-19 treatment center at Idu, a flagship project of FCTA.

    5. Also slated for special emphasis by Federal Ministry of Health is ensuring continued delivery of routine services in all hospitals in Nigeria. Latest statistics from the (NHMIS) National Health Management Information System, indicate that Out patient visit dropped dropped from 4 million to about 2 million, Antenatal visits from 1.3 million to 655 thousand, Skilled Birth attendance from 158,374 to less than 99 thousand, while immunization services reduced to about half. All these failings have as yet undetermined consequences, which the easing of the lockdown should hopefully address. However, the suspected downside of easing restrictions has to be balanced off by citizens, with collective determination by all of us, not only to comply with protective and prophylactic advisories, but to encourage relatives, friends neighbors and customers to do same. The use of facial covers like masks in places where social distancing may be difficult or impractical, should be emphasized and supported through distribution of masks to the population, as an act of goodwill. Face masks should in fact become commonplace and I look forward to seeing that cooks, stewards and Food vendors, for example, wear masks, or lose their customers.

    I wish to enjoin workplaces to institute such requirements and ensure that all workers are masked and knowledgeable about COVID-19, and by extension, share it with their families and relations.

    6. I wish to use this opportunity to thank community, religious and traditional leaders, who have supported Government initiatives by ensuring that their subjects use masks as the minimum form of self protection for themselves and us all. The present rate of community transmission makes even these simple measures helpful.​

    7. ​We shall engage State Commissioners of Health and their staff through IT platform, to continue training and retraining of health workers in States, as more information on covid-19 is received, to ensure learnings and exchange of ideas and experiences of other countries, is shared.

    9. ​We have had discussions with multinationals and our development partners such as WHO and Global Fund, to plan our needs, processes and procurements. Funds are also being repurposed for use in the covid19 response to further increase diagnostic capacity and provide personal protective equipment for our health care and other public workers.

    10. ​I shall conclude by thanking our Governors for the leadership they are showing in the response to the virus threat and also all our citizens for adhering to public health advisories. The FMoH visit to Cross River State will be scheduled as soon as transport is arranged and to Kogi State, as soon as details are worked out.

    11. ​Thank you for your attention.

  • COVID-19: Health Minister reveals number of tests done, says 70 percent of those who tested positive are males

    COVID-19: Health Minister reveals number of tests done, says 70 percent of those who tested positive are males

    The Minster of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said that till date, over 2,000 persons have been tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

    Ehanire, who made this known on Wednesday at the Presidential Task Force Briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja, said that of the total number of people who tested positive for COVID-19, 70 percent of them are males.

    According to him, “As of now, over 2000 persons have been tested. We are expanding our diagnostic capacity to test across the country. This is expected to improve turnaround time and enhance timely access to testing.

    “About 70 percent of those who have tested positive are males. The age range is between 30 and 60 years. However, we must note that both men and women of all ages can be affected

    “As of today, the 1st of April 2020, we have recorded 151 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria. 82 are in Lagos, 28 in FCT, 8 in Oyo, 14 in Osun, 4 each in Ogun and Edo, 3 in Kaduna, 2 each in Bauchi, Ekiti and Enugu and 1 each in Benue, and Rivers States.

    “Some vehicles were intercepted trying to enter Nigeria from Benin Republic, with over 100 Nigerians onboard, heading for Osun State. It is said that they were coming from Ivory Coast or Ghana, I am not quite sure.
    “It is among this group that we have 12 immediate new entrants, that is, imported cases which added to the 139 we have. Therefore, we have 151 cases of coronavirus in Nigeria.

    “It shows the importance of importation and also border closure. In this case, they are our citizens and they are knocking at the door of our borders and they have to be let in. But if they were not our citizens, definitely, we will have a problem having to handle infected persons of other nationalities.

    “Till date, nine (9) persons have been discharged and two deaths recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria. These were cases with severe underlying illnesses aggravated by their COVID-19 infection.

    “Between last week and this week, two new laboratories have been added to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) network of molecular laboratories for COVID-19. These are Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State and Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), Ebonyi State.

    “With this addition, we have increased our daily testing capacity from five hundred to one thousand. Hopefully, by next week, it is expected that this will be significantly increased.

    “From what we know, the incubation period for COVID-19 is generally 2-14 days, that is, the time it takes for an infected person to show symptoms. Therefore, we are using the window of opportunity presented by the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States to promptly detect, isolate and effectively treat cases.

    “It is important to emphasize that there are no Rapid Diagnostic Tests available that have been validated by the World Health Organization, (WHO), because they often give unreliable results.

    “Unless you have been tested in one of the seven molecular laboratories for COVID-19 in Nigeria, your results are most likely useless. In the absence of a vaccine, interventions such as social distancing and self-isolation have become even more important to curbing the spread of the disease”.

    He added: “With nearly 1,000 bed spaces identified in the FCT, we continue to expand the number of isolation centres and ICU units across the country for those who may have severe complications from the disease due to being immunocompromised. This includes elderly people above the age of 70 or those with critical underlying health conditions such as cancer, tuberculosis and HIV.

    “Several States have also identified and established isolation centres for treatment of mild and moderate cases. Lagos State has expanded its isolation wards and surge capacity. Yesterday, the Ogun State Governor commissioned isolation centres of over 200 bed capacity in the State.

    “I urge states to urgently prioritize identification of these within their states particularly tertiary hospitals.

    “We have also engaged hundreds of ad-hoc staff to support various areas of response and Port Health Authority staff previously stationed at the airports have been redeployed to key roads that serve at key entry and exit points”.

    The Minister explained that the national case definition for COVID-19 has been expanded to include persons with acute respiratory illness in an area of medium or high prevalence of the disease without any other explanation.

    Concerning burials of people who have died from the COVID-19, the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said: “The burial of a case of COVID-19 is not as risky as the one of Lassa and Ebola. The one of Lassa and Ebola we know that when they pass away, their body fluids are very infectious, and so we advise on an elaborate process that is culturally very difficult for any part of our country to avoid any contact with body fluids.

    “We have released advisory on burials for COVID-19, but it doesn’t have the same level of infectivity of Lassa or Ebola because it is not transmitted through body fluids, but it is a viral infection and transmitted through respiratory tract. It doesn’t die with the person. The virus survives a while. We still advise on a fairly safe burial but the risks are not as high as Lassa and Ebola”.