The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has just announced 276 new cases of COVID-19 and increase in deaths from 233 to 249 deaths.
With the 276 new cases, Nigeria now has a total of 8,334 cases, 2385 recoveries, and 249 deaths.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:30pm 26th May 2020, there are 8,334 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
276 new cases of #COVID19 reported; It also splitted the 276 new cases into states of occurrence as follows:
The leadership of the Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria, AHAPN; and Clinical Pharmacists Association of Nigeria, CPAN, have advised on the use of Remdesivir and other antiviral drugs for the management of COVID-19, if the need arises to test other drugs for the treatment of the infection in the country.
Although the Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye has said the nation will continue hydroxychloroquine clinical trials, despite the suspension of the trials by the World Health Organisation on Monday.
Dr Kingsley Amibor, AHAPN national chairman, in an exclusive interview with Pharmanewsonline noted that the next logical thing to do, if it becomes compulsory to also put the clinical trials on hold in the country, is to look for other options, in order to shield patients from the effects.
He said: “The Federal Minister of Health did mention sometime ago that Nigeria was making use of Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients. So may be this might be the best time for us as a nation to begin to explore fully, the potentials of Remdesivir as an antiviral drug for the treatment of COVID-19 and to include it in our treatment protocol for our country.
“I want to believe clinical trials have been carried out already, but where it has not, then it is important that clinical trials be carried out on it to establish its clinical efficacy and safety status”, he stated.
Amibor further recommended the use of other antiviral combinations which have been tried in several places with encouraging results.
He cited the examples of some combinations deployed in some centres in the country, for the management of the condition.
“Some centres in Nigeria are said to be using combination of amoxycillinplus clavulanic acid, artemether lumefantrine, and ritonavir/lopinavir and so on. Such combinations can be used, if it we have to put hydroxychloroquine on hold in the country, pending when a final cure is found”, he advised.
The AHAPN chairman also urged the management of the National Agency for Food and Drug, Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to fast track the efficacy and safety trials of the Madagascar’s COVID- Organics, so that once it passes the clinical trial tests, then it can be introduced into the treatment protocol in Nigeria.
In addition, he said there are several products submitted to NAFDAC for efficacy and safety trials, hoping that a cure would emerge from herbal products in the nearest future.
For the National Chairman of CPAN, Dr Joseph Madu,: “There is no major problem with the suspension of the clinical trials by WHO, as the agency has said every sovereign nation with effective regulatory body can advise its citizens through its clinicians such as clinical pharmacists, nurse practitioners and physicians on the use of any drug like chloroquine for instance which is already a licensed product”.
He said what this means is that the treatment with chloroquine in COVID-19 patients has not been categorically suspended because the country’s clinicians can weigh the benefits against the risks for patients.
Furthermore, he noted that the WHO said the suspension of the clinical trials is only temporarily paused due to some research concerns and a publication in a scientific Journal the LANCET which cited issues of safety with Chloroquine with or without azithromycin usage.
“The WHO said her monitoring board committee on safety will review the chloroquine data.
“The body made it clear that they had temporarily paused the solidarity chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine clinical trials, but other arms of the trial will continue”
Madu further stated that aside the use of chloroquine, there is a cocktail of other drugs used in the management of COVID-19.
He said, it is the duty of clinical pharmacists at the centre to come up with substitutes or alternative regimen designs as obtainable in advanced climes.
“Therefore, the treatment of COVID-19 patients is not really going to be affected by the WHO temporary suspension of solidarity clinical trials.
Reacting to the new strategy of the Lagos State Government to admit only severe cases at the isolation centres, Amibor said it is not a welcome development, especially at this time when the number of confirmed cases and deaths from Lagos keeps rising. One can understand that the capacity of the isolation centres may be overwhelmed already, but I believe what the government can do is to try to open more isolation centres where newly confirmed cases can be treated.
He added that the government can appeal to public spirited individuals to donate more places to serve as isolation centres. Individuals having hotels can volunteer such. “But to abandon these patients or to leave them in their houses, where they stand the risk of infecting their households or other members of the public will be counterproductive. Managing or treating COVID-19 patients at home only to bring them to the isolation centres when they enter the severe phase of the infection will definitely worsen the spread of COVID-19”, he maintained.
He therefore appealed to the state government to have a rethink on the decision because if anything happens, it will likely increase the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Dr Madu also uphold the same views as his colleague saying the strategy will not help curb the spread but could rather increase the spread.
While arguing that the measure or decision will likely reduce deaths as the severe cases will be given more serious attention, he urged the federal government and private sector to assist the state in getting more centres.
“The FG can support the state by acquiring more isolation centres with more bed spaces. The private sector such as accredited community pharmacies and private clinics can also be used in testing, monitoring of patients and management of asymptomatic cases, and referrals where necessary”, he added.
In spite of the temporary suspension placed on the Solidarity clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine/Chloroquine and Azithromycin combination, by the World Health Organisation, WHO, on Monday, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC has said no going back on the already commenced trials in Lagos.
NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who made the disclosure on Tuesday during a programme on Television Continental, said there are proven records that hydroxychloroquine had been effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially those at the “mild stage” of the virus.
Dr Kingsley Amibor and Dr Joseph Madu
Meanwhile, the Director General, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Professor Babatunde Salako has cautioned on hasty move on the WHO’s decision in the country, saying it is necessary to weigh the pros and cons on patients outcome.
Adeyeye stated that there is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients.
“ Therefore, we would continue our own clinical trials in Nigeria. Hydroxychloroquine has been proved to work at a mild stage. So the potency depends on the severity of the disease in the patient’s body,” she said.
Explaining on the progress of the trials in Lagos, she said it depends on the cooperation and speed of work among healthcare team and researchers.
“ If medical doctors, research scientists, pharmacists, herbal experts work together, we should conclude the clinical trials in 3-4 months. The narrative might change afterwards but for now, we believe in hydroxychloroquine.”
Prof. Salako expressed concerns on the import of the apex health institution’s decision on Nigeria, saying impacts must be well considered.
“I believe there is need for caution in this situation since the issue raises a pertinent concern of safety.
“However chloroquine has been used in Nigeria and Africa generally without much ado even in terms of safety so I guess Africans may not respond to its use as Caucasian’s did”, Salako told Pharmanewsonline.
The WHO had said on Monday that it had “temporarily” suspended clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 over safety issues.
A new research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has suggested that physically active yoga can help ease depressive symptoms for people with mental health diagnosis.
The study found that people with some mental health diagnoses who regularly engage in physically active yoga are likely to have fewer depressive symptoms than those who practice less often or engage in other forms of intervention.
The researchers brought together findings from previous studies and outlined the value that further research on the relationship between yoga and mental health issues would bring.
According to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.
It shows that it is one of the most profound human problems currently facing the global healthcare system.
The National Institute of Mental Health also revealed that depression causes severe symptoms that affect how people feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.
Depression sometimes appears alongside other mental health issues, such as anxiety and psychosis. Some physical health issues can also lead to mental health issues.
Affective disorders, as examined by experts is associated with depression and lack of physical activity.
This explains why medical doctors often encourage people with depression to take part in physical activity to prevent the adverse physical health effects of inactivity, such as cardiovascular disease.
In this context, researchers stated that physically active yoga may play a valuable role.
There is a range of different types of yoga, but the practice typically combines physical movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and mindfulness.
To explore this hypothesis, the authors of the study conducted a meta-analysis of studies that had previously looked at the effects of yoga on depressive symptoms.
After identifying 80 trials, the researchers reduced this number to 13, focusing high quality trials that involved people over the age of 18 who had received a diagnosis for a mental health disorder, and who engaged in yoga that included physical movement for at least 50 per cent of the duration of a session.
After pooling the data from these trials, the authors found that yoga had a moderate effect on reducing depressive symptoms for people with mental health disorders.
The benefits were most noticeable in people with depression and schizophrenia and, to a lesser extent, for alcohol misuse.
However, there was not enough data to assess its benefit for other mental health disorders. The authors noted that their findings were consistent with a previous study that had looked specifically at the possible benefits of yoga for people who had received a diagnosis for depression.
Research from several institutions, including the California National Primate Research Centre at UC Davis, suggested that more women could be losing their pregnancies to the Zika virus without knowing they are infected.
The study, published in Nature Medicine 2 July, found 26 percent of nonhuman primates infected with Zika during early stages of pregnancy experienced miscarriage or stillbirth even though the animals showed few signs of infection.
A banner showing a pregnant woman and the risk of Zika virus
“These rates of fetal losses and stillbirths in Zika-infected pregnant monkeys were about four-fold higher than what is normally seen in unexposed monkey populations at these research centers,” said Koen Van Rompay, corresponding author and core scientist at the California National Primate Research Center. “Many of the fetal and placental tissues had evidence of Zika virus replication and also had pathological lesions, which further supports the role of Zika virus in this detrimental outcome.”
Previous Zika research only measured miscarriages and stillbirths in women who displayed signs or symptoms of the virus. A recent study of women who were known to be infected with Zika found that 5 percent did not carry to term or had stillbirths.
“There are limitations to the human studies, which rely on symptomatic infections,” said Dawn Dudley, lead author of the study and scientist in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. “Women get enrolled in the studies because they have Zika symptoms, but we know that up to half of people who have Zika don’t show any symptoms at all. So, the pregnancy studies are probably missing half of the people who have Zika.”
The Zika virus is widely known for causing children to be born with a brain abnormality called microencephaly and other malformations. Zika disease in human adults includes fever, rash, headache, joint and muscle pain, as well as red eyes; however, most are asymptomatic.
“For pregnant women who live in areas where Zika virus is prevalent, and who may experience spontaneous abortions, the possible link to Zika virus infection may be missed,” said Lark Coffey, an arbovirologist at UC Davis and co-author on the manuscript. “Our data in monkeys indicate more research is needed so researchers can develop intervention strategies to protect pregnant women and their fetuses from Zika virus.”
The research data were aggregated from six National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs), where researchers have the ability to control the timing and method of infection in a way those studying human infections cannot. Researchers monitored pregnant monkeys — rhesus macaques at the California, Oregon, Tulane and Wisconsin NPRCs, common marmosets at the Southwest NPRC, and pigtail macaques at the Washington NPRC — to follow the progress of Zika virus in the bodies and into their fetuses and the tissues that support fetal development. In another recent study, Van Rompay, Coffey and colleagues showed that infection of Rhesus macaque monkeys with Zika virus in utero caused similar brain damage to that seen in human newborns.
The timing of infection was found to be an important predictor of fetal loss. Exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy was more likely to result in fetal death — a finding that parallels human reports. Another finding from the study was placental dysfunction, which commonly presented in the form of increased placental calcification during ultrasound examinations.
President, Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, Dr Iyke Odo, has called on the Nigerian government over the Coronavirus pandemic to leverage the presence of medical doctors in the private sector, rather than waiting for infectious disease specialists, which could lead to the death of 99 per cent of these patients.
In an exclusive interview with Pharmanews, the AGPMPN president said it was wrong for government to sideline them in the treatment of the COVID-19 patients, noting that six out of 10 COVID-19 patients are likely to first visit a private hospital to complain about headache, fever.
He said, government at both local and federal levels need to recognise that private doctors are the main fighter and not some infectious disease specialist they are expecting to come from diaspora.
Dr Iyke Ugwu Odo
He frown at the present situation as the federal government keeps giving them the impression that they have nothing to do with these cases whereas, they have more to do with it as whoever has any primary symptoms of COVID- 19 goes to the private hospital first. In response to the question on how they know if a patient is a carrier of the virus, unlike the government hospitals, Odo, said without test confirmation, it is not possible to know, not even a professor from John Hopkins hospital would know precisely no matter how much the symptoms we have been reading about are expressed.
“Whether the person has fever, headache, body pain, coughing, breathing fast, it must not be COVID-19 because this same symptoms have always been there, someone who has asthma, proctitis, tuberculosis will be breathing fast, one can only suspect COVID, and until you do the test no one no matter how trained can confirm COVID-19 infection. That is why we are saying government should stop dividing their house.
“The government are saying they have not recognised the private doctors to treat COVID- 19 patients, we are not agitating to just start treating the patients, but we are saying those of us who have the training, infrastructure should be accredited and therefore permitted to treat.
“It is not good enough that the private doctors are not allowed to be part of this scheme, all what the government needs to do is just two days seminar to train the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, because they are already professionals, they are licensed already,” he added.
He said: “There is nothing special about the doctors, nurses, pharmacists treating COVID-19 patients in the isolation centres except the few infectious disease specialists and they are very few.
“As we speak, no one knows the next COVID-19 patient that will die because some body may have it and show no symptoms. No headache, fever, cough, catarrh or even shortness of breath. That diabetic, hypertensive patient who comes to you innocently and you discussed with him, having nothing on your mind but unknown to you he has COVID, it takes only one seconds to contract this virus.
“The federal government should know that we are everything to this battle, and they should plan for everybody, the government of Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda are providing trainings to their private hospitals”.
Odo said, it is rather unfortunate that the government are not giving the private hospitals the needed support in the management of the virus, he added that healthcare is predominantly a concern for public and private sectors and you cannot successfully separate them, the federal government can’t do it alone.
The attention of the Nigerian populace has been drawn to the circulation of a contaminated frozen mixed vegetables (Pinguin Brand), which was shipped into the country from Europe, and regulatory agencies have warned against the consumption, as it can lead to a bacterial infection called Listeriosis.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control’s directorate of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN) disclosed through a press statement that it received an alert from the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) on the outbreak of Listeriosis in some parts of Europe.
Samples of Pinguin brand of frozen mixed vegetables
Listeriosis is a bacterial infection most commonly caused by Listeria monocytogenes, and it can cause severe illness, including severe sepsis, meningitis, or encephalitis, sometimes resulting in lifelong harm and even death. Those at risk of severe illness are the elderly, unborn babies, newborns and those who are immune-compromised. In pregnant women, it may cause stillbirth or spontaneous abortion, and preterm birth is common.
Speaking on the development, the Director General, NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, expressed her deep concern when she got the information that the contaminated product has been shipped into the country. She immediately gave a directive for a nation-wide surveillance.
It was stated that NAFDAC’s FSAN directorate went into action and confirmed that some of the implicated products actually arrived Nigeria. “Teams dispatched to the field found large quantities of the implicated products and placed them on HOLD. Placing on HOLD means the item cannot be distributed or sold”.
To further arrest the situation, Prof. Adeyeye said the agency newly created First Responders Team (FRT), which comprised staff from FSAN, Investigations & Enforcement, and Pharmacovigilance/Post marketing directorates, and they carried out the nationwide investigations in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja.
According to the release:”NAFDAC recovered a total of 3,300kg of the implicated product, Pinguin Brand of mixed vegetables, which have been isolated by the agency for destruction. Therefore, health risks to the Nigerian public have been mitigated. Further surveillance is on-going nationwide”.
As a precautionary measure, the agency has advised the public to return all such frozen vegetables (Pinguin Brand) manufactured between 13 August 2016 and 20 June 2018 to the nearest NAFDAC office.
Reports from the international scene corroborated it that the outbreak of Listeriosis in some parts of Europe was linked to frozen sweetcorn and other frozen mixed vegetables. Listeria monocytogenes, the causative agent of listeriosis can be found in many foods. Examples include smoked fish; meats; cheeses (especially soft cheeses) and raw vegetables. Consumption of contaminated food or feed is the main route of transmission to humans and animals. Infection that can lead to death may also occur through contact with infected animals or people.
While it was reported that the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed has issued an alert on a multi-country foodborne outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes in Europe, list of affected countries of origin are Hungary and other European countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands.
The African Regional Office for The World Health Organization, WHO, in Brazzaville, Congo, says the number of COVID-19 Cases in Africa has risen to over 110,900 in the past 24 hours, as Nigeria becomes 4th country with number of cases in the continent.
The UN health agency gave the update on its official Twitter account on Monday.
According to the tweet, COVID-19 has killed more than 3,300 people on the continent, while more than 44,500 people have recovered from the virus.
“Over 110,900 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 44,500 recoveries and 3,300 deaths,” it said.
Nigeria is now fourth in Africa, ahead of Morocco with 8068 reported cases and 226 deaths, while the North African nation has 7,429 cases and 198 deaths.
The WHO COVID-19 dashboard showed that South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria are the top three countries in Africa with the highest reported COVID-19 cases.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:50pm 25th May 2020, there are 8068 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
The World Health Organisation has suspended testing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients due to safety concerns, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
Hydroxycholoroquine has been touted by US President Donald Trump and others as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
Image of WHO logo
Trump has said he was taking the drug to help prevent infection.
“The executive group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity trial, while the safety data is reviewed by the data safety monitoring board,” Tedros told an online briefing.
He said the other arms of the trial – a major international initiative to hold clinical tests of potential treatments for the virus – were continuing.
The WHO has previously recommended against using hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent coronavirus infections, except as part of clinical trials.
Dr Mike Ryan, head of the WHO emergencies programme, said the decision to suspend trials of hydroxychloroquine had been taken out of “an abundance of caution”.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has revealed the answer to one of the frequently asked questions on COVID-19 testing in the country.
The agency explained its main reason for not using rapid test kits, saying it can bring Diagnosticabout false result by giving false positive or negative results.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu
NCDC, in answering the question ‘why is Nigeria not using rapid test kits?’ stated: “Currently, most rapid diagnostic kits for #COVID19 can give false positive or false negative results”.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Institute for Medical Research, NIMR, has entered into an agreement with Mobihealth, to conduct research and development on tele-consultation guided COVID-19 home self-swab test.
According to the NIMR DG, Prof. Babatunde Salako, the collaboration is aimed at comparing the efficiency of home self-swab test through tele-consultation guide to test samples collected at physical centres.
Salako said: “The R&D aims to investigate the efficiency of home self-swab test sample collection guided by tele-consultation compared to the walk in procedures sample at testing centre.
“The objective is to rapidly and safely collect and test larger samples of people for the virus, while limiting face-to- face testing and reducing the spread of the virus, especially among health workers” he said.
He said the partnership, which will be funded by a private initiative, will reduce need for PPE, save cost, reduce stigmatisation and increase openness to testing.
For Mobihealth, they were delighted to partner NIMR, towards increasing accessibility to diagnostic test, as well as reduce the spread of the infection.
They said “We are very pleased to partner with NIMR on this great initiative to ease the pressures, reduce spread of COVID19 and save cost.The date for the commencement of the programme will be announced soon”.
Similarly, the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, ACEGID, located in Ede, Osun State has indicated her interest in developing a rapid 10-minute diagnostics for coronavirus, which could help improve Nigeria’s abysmal testing numbers.
The centre, known for its pacesetting role in the containment of infectious diseases, rose to national prominence during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak after it developed a five-minute diagnostics test for Ebola, as well as Lassa fever.
Prof. Christian Happi, centre coordinator had earlier disclosed on the development thus: “We are working on developing rapid diagnostics. We are working to produce a-10-minutes rapid diagnostics. The Ebola diagnostics is different, but we are using the same technology to develop something similar.
“We are not there yet. I just want people to know that we have the technology. And we have done the same thing for Lassa fever. And we want to believe we would do the same thing for COVID-19,” he said.
Discharged COVID-19 patients in Niger State have shared their experiences at the state’s Isolation centre, revealing how they were only given food without drugs.
In an interview with The Nation Newspaper, the patients who were discharged yesterday, May 24, claimed that all through their stay at the isolation centre, no single drug was apportioned to them in form of treatment.
The patients stated that despite the fact that they tested positive for COVID-19, they were neither treated nor re-tested before being discharged.
One of the discharged patients, who was picked up from Zumba in Shiroro local government area, said he was expecting to be treated and given drugs throughout his stay at the isolation centre but was only given food.
“I expected that I will undergo some treatment, but apart from food, nothing was given to me in the form of treatment. They did not give me a single drug.
They only give us food every day that is all. No single drug, not even paracetamol was given to me throughout the 14 days,” the patient who spoke on condition of anonymity explained. He further alleged that his mother and other relations, who were picked up and quarantined with him, were also treated with nonchallant attitude.
He added that after their discharge, they were not provided with transportation and told to find their way to their various houses.
“They just came and asked us to go. They did not tell us how we would move neither did they consider that we may not have any money to transport us home. We trekked from the isolation centre at the back of the police secondary school to the main road.
From there, we trekked to Dutsen Kuran Gwari before someone assisted us to Sabon Gari junction. It was at Sabon Gari that a commercial vehicle carried us to Zumba before we borrowed money from our people to pay the driver” he explained.
Currently Niger State has 28 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 18 patients on admission. Five have been discharged and one deceased.
As the search for local remedy to the global infection of Coronavirus continues in the country, the Director General, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, NIPRD, Dr Obi Peter Adigwe, has disclosed the intention of the agency, to partner various institutions at national and international levels to arrive at innovative solutions to the infection and other diseases.
Dr Obi Peter Adigwe
Adigwe said: “With NIPRD being one of a kind in the region and also statutorily charged with the responsibility for research and development of drugs, vaccines, phytomedicines and commodities, our strategic plan is to use carefully nurtured partnerships with institutions, Nigerian and foreign universities and funding agencies to stimulate local production of excipients, pharma inputs, quality medicines and other innovative interventions for the sector”.
The NIPRD boss stated this through a press release sent to Pharmanewsonline, on the agency’s partnership with Bloom Public Health to boost its capacity in research and development, towards arriving at quality pharmaceuticals for the use of the citizens.
He described the agreement as an African-led initiative to reshape the development of local preparations for use in the Nigerian healthcare delivery system.
According to him: “The partnership between Bloom and NIPRD is the type of Africa-led collaboration that will revolutionise the development of home-grown solutions for our healthcare issues.
“We are glad to partner with Bloom Public Health as it is just the sort of contextual alliance that can expedite access to healthcare for our people”
On his part, the Bloom CEO, Professor Chimezie Anyakora, explained how the outbreak of COVID-19 has made the strengthening of NIPRD imperative, as an agency that is pivotal to the development of the pharmaceutical industry.
He said: “The COVID-19 pandemic amplifies the urgent need to strengthen the Nigerian Pharmaceutical sector and NIPRD as an institution is extremely instrumental to the growth and development of the sector.
“This partnership will ensure that NIPRD is fully supported technically to lead our country’s pharmaceutical sector reform and we are honoured and privileged to be able to contribute our quota to this great journey”.
Anyakora further assured Nigerians of the great impact the partnership will bring about in the industry saying “The Bloom Public Health and NIPRD partnership will catalyze a pharmaceutical renaissance and we are looking forward to the impact it will have on public health”.
Given the shared interest, the statement revealed that both parties desire to work together on a mutual strategy of strengthening the health systems to guarantee access to safe and affordable health products for Nigerians.
A ❏ is characterised by vasodilation B ❏ causes hot, red feet C ❏ starts as white patches of skin D ❏ is caused by a bacterial infection E ❏ may require vasodilator treatment
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG, pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has recently said it will take only God’s intervention for the COVID- 19 pandemic to disappear.
Adeboye made this statement while preaching via Dove TV this morning.
According to the pastor, the pandemic would not disappear completely but however, it will soon subside.
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye
“The Coronavirus pandemic would not disappear completely but it would only subside. It is only a miracle that would cause the pandemic to disappear completely. God has told me that his children who worship him in truth would be exempted from calamity associated with the pandemic.
I told you that this year, the world will behave like a child in convulsion. I told you at the beginning of the year, even though I am not a prophet, but a Pastor. You will come out of this problem safe and sound, but you must take the step of faith” he said
Daddy G.O as fondly called pointed out that the lockdown enforced due to the pandemic, has given some families the opportunity to bond.
He said some people who did not have time for their families are now bonding and they now have better relationships with their families.
He added that God can help Nigerians to fly over the challenges brought by the pandemic, noting that alll one can do is to trust in him.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has just announced 313 new cases of COVID-19 and increase in deaths from 221 to 226 deaths.
With the 313 new cases, Nigeria now has a total of 7,839 cases, 2263 recoveries, and 226 deaths.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:30pm 24th May 2020, there are 7,839 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
313 new cases of #COVID19 reported; It also splitted the 313 new cases into states of occurrence as follows:
In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, Lucky Isioma Nwabueze, a 500-Level Pharmacy Student and 44th president, Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students (PANS), University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, speaks on the high points of his administration. He also bares his mind on the recent mass failure in schools of pharmacy in the country, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Excerpts:
Has Pharmacy always been your dream course?
I had always had the dream of becoming a doctor right from childhood, although I wasn’t even sure of what type of doctor I would love to be since I couldn’t withstand the sight of blood. So strong was my determination that I was willing to spend extra time at home as I wasn’t very lucky with JAMB and my mantra was “doctor or nothing”.
Lucky Isioma Nwabueze
During my JAMB years, I never knew there was a degree called Doctor of Pharmacy. However, after spending almost five years at home, I was exposed to the wonderful idea of Pharmacy by my elder brother, and immediately, I developed the ambition of becoming a pharmacist. Eventually, I was admitted in 2015 to study Pharmacy at the University of Benin.
Getting to learn about the Pharm.D programme offer in my preferred institution and also learning that the Pharm.D degree qualifies me to be a doctor without having to bear the gruesome sight of blood, was another level of excitement for me. It came to me as a fulfilment of my dream and I couldn’t be grateful enough for the privilege.
So, looking back at my childhood aspirations I can boldly say that God wanted me to be a doctor, but it took me almost five years to realise that I would be a doctor of pharmacy and not the physician I thought it would be. Studying Pharmacy at the University of Benin, to me, is a dream come true and I can’t wish for any other profession.
What were your motivations for contesting for the post of PANS president?
I got into pharmacy school at a time when the faculty was a major player in the political sphere of the Students Union Government. The faculty had a female presidential candidate and she happened to be the second female contender of all time in the union. I saw her campaign as a fight for the profession, and I could remember leading the campaign for Pharm. (Dr) Lauretta Obakpolor from the junior class. I participated in her campaign and was extremely excited when she emerged victorious in that election.
My exposure to politics then developed a very strong interest in politics in me and also played a major role in motivating me. This interest and motivation saw me representing my faculty in various ad-hoc committees, running for the position of public relations officer in my faculty, and eventually running for the presidency in a keenly contested election. I strongly believe that the essence of leadership in PANS is to focus on the total welfare of all the PANSITES; hence, my campaign mantra was “shifting focus from PANS to the PANSITES”.
What aspects of your responsibilities as president do you consider particularly challenging, and what have been your achievements so far?
Leadership, in general, is challenging and hence anyone ready to occupy a leadership position should be ready for the challenges and criticisms that come with the office. In attempting to shift focus from PANS to the PANSITES, I have come to realise that the totality of the welfare of the students should be my utmost concern. I have the responsibility of ensuring that the voices of my colleagues are heard in the right quarters; as well providing them with the basic comforts and amenities that will contribute favourably to their wellbeing.
Getting to acquire these amenities is really capital intensive, and as an association that is dependent largely on external support from patrons within and outside the state, the current economic situation of the country as a result of the current global pandemic is really a big challenge in achieving these goals. My executives and I are ensuring that we are not deterred by these challenges as we are looking for alternative ways to impact our colleagues through other online media.
The present Faculty of Pharmacy, UNIBEN, commenced operation in 1970 to cater for the then mid-west states in Nigeria. Over the years, what would you say are the challenges facing pharmacy education in the school, and how can they be surmounted?
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin will be celebrating her golden jubilee this year and this is a major milestone for both the staff and students of the faculty. The faculty has contributed immensely in shaping the scope of pharmacy education in the country. But from my perspective, one major challenge facing pharmacy education is the scope of the pharmacy education curriculum.
I believe that the curriculum should be remodelled to meet the current global needs and trends. I believe it should be modelled to involve more leadership and practical skills training, digital and clinical skill exposure. It should also create more room to enhance collaboration among students within and outside Nigeria.
UNIBEN is the only pharmacy school in Nigeria accredited to award the Pharm.D degree, which spans a period of six years. What do you think gave the school an edge over others, especially those that started offering Pharmacy earlier in the country?
In my view, I believe that the Faculty of Pharmacy, UNIBEN, has been blessed with very innovative lecturers, who are ready to change the status quo of pharmacy practice in the country, irrespective of the obvious challenges that they were faced with. The decision by the faculty board to be oriented towards a more global standard is what has given the faculty an edge over her contemporaries.
The founding fathers of the Pharm.D degree program had seen and were opportune to be trained in climes where pharmacy practice is more clinical and pharmaceutical-care based. This exposure, I believe, ignited the zeal to effect a change. So, from my perspective, I would say that the edge the faculty had, was based on the willingness and zeal by the faculty board to effect a change to the status quo of the practice.
If you have the honour of changing some things about pharmacy education in Nigeria, what will they be?
If I have the honour of changing anything in pharmacy education, it will be the pharmacy curriculum. The training and the courses should be geared towards proffering answers to 21st-century problems. Any part which is not currently relevant in practice will be removed. I believe this will reduce the extremely bulky nature of pharmacy education and focus more on relevant parts of the practice, thereby grooming young pharmacists with adequate problem-solving skills.
Using the school of pharmacy, UNIBEN as a case study, what do you think is responsible for the challenge of ‘mass failure’ among pharmacy students nowadays?
The issue of mass failure is a serious one that any pharmacy student can relate with. Basically, I believe that one major contributing factor to this issue is the psychological state of the student. From my experience, I have come to realise that majority of pharmacy students already have the premonition that pharmacy is very difficult and examination success is always not guaranteed no matter how hard you prepare.
With this mindset, students eventually spend a long time studying, with very little confidence required to write well in an exam. Students end up getting tense before and during examinations, which is always counterproductive.
I also believe that some of our lecturers contribute to this problem. Some of them try to make students see that failure is inevitable, and the slightest error can earn one a repeat. If lecturers can help the students to see that Pharmacy is not as difficult as they presume and that with adequate hard work, success is certain, students will get the adequate psychological boost to build the confidence needed to come out with flying colours in any examination.
Although there may be other contributing factors, I believe that if the psychological state of the students is well catered for, by helping them overcome emotional and psychological trauma, the issue of mass failure will be drastically reduced.
What is the level of support that PANS-UNIBEN is receiving from technical bodies like the PSN and the ACPN in Edo state?
Over the years, PANS-UNIBEN has received some level of support from technical bodies such as PSN and ACPN. This is evident in the roles they play during the students health week, public health awareness programmes, and partnering with students’ bodies during their weeks. I would love to use this medium to appreciate all technical bodies and individuals that have supported us in various ways in the past and I want to appeal for their continual support to the student arm of the profession. Long live Pharmacy!
Dr Chukwudi Onwuka is an accomplished pharmacist with about four decades of practice in the United States. In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, he shares some of his experience over there, while also highlighting the numerous essential roles of pharmacists in the society. Excerpts:
Can you briefly tell us about your background?
Let me first of all appreciate you for the good work you are doing under Pharm. Ifeanyi Atueyi. This is the second time I am interacting with Pharmanews. The first one was in October 1979. If you check your archives, you will see my article you published when I was a student at the Northeastern University in Boston. Indeed, I started with Pharmanews 41 years ago.
Dr Chukwudi Onwuka
I am from Okija in Anambra state. I left for the US in September 1977 and studied Pharmacy at the Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, obtaining Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1982 and master’s degree in Hospital Pharmacy Administration in 1985. Later I obtained PhD in Healthcare Administration from Capella University. I own and manage Broad Ridge Drug in Gary, Indiana. I am glad that two of our children are also pharmacists practising in the US.
What motivated you to study Pharmacy?
Pharmacy has always been my dream, even though when I was young, I met a judge, who is a close relative and he advised me to study Law, in order to become a lawyer. But I didn’t yield to that advice because of my desire to practise Pharmacy.
My love for Pharmacy started from my father. He was not educated but he practised both traditional pharmacy and surgery. People who had abscess and boils consulted him for treatment, and he operated on them. So, Medicine had always been in the family, and some of my elder brothers became medical doctors, but Medicine wasn’t my own desired profession. Pharmacy has been the profession I wanted and I’m glad I achieved my ambition.
How would you describe the roles of pharmacists in the healthcare industry in Nigeria?
Pharmacists have several responsibilities to patients and in the drug distribution system.
Some of our roles include: ensuring the supply of medicines within the laws and regulation, ensuring that medicines prescribed for patients are safe and suitable; advising patients about medicines, including their doses and side-effects and answering their questions.
We also supervise the medicines supply chain and ensure pharmacy premises and systems are fit for the purpose; advise other healthcare professionals about safe and effective medicines use, safe and secure supply of medicines; respond to patients’ symptoms and advise on medicines for sale in pharmacies; supervise the production and preparation of medicines and assessments of quality of medicines before they are supplied to patients.
However, these roles of pharmacists are affected by shortage of professionals and inadequate remuneration in Nigeria. Their roles will be more effective when more pharmacists return to the country, because one thing is obvious; healthcare professionals that left Nigeria for overseas will eventually come back.
From my personal experience, I know that most people that travelled out desire to come back and work in Nigeria, but their present condition may not allow them. For instance, when I left Nigeria, I had the intention of staying over there for just five years; I never planned to stay this long. But, it is still on my mind to come back to the country. In fact, my desire is to practise here, and this is why I came to the University of Benin few years ago and attended the mandatory course for my registration to practise locally.
Having practised in the U.S, what are the values of pharmacy there that can adopted in Nigeria?
The first thing to know is that the pharmacist’s role there is well defined. Over there, physicians don’t practise Pharmacy, as pharmacists dispense drugs and do counselling, and also get involved in clinical aspect of Pharmacy. That is why we study and acquire the Pharm D. degree.
There are procedures a pharmacist must follow to avoid giving wrong medications because hospital settings are different from community pharmacy settings.
Hospitals have their ways of checking medications to ensure pharmacists dispense drugs to the right patients at the right time.
One key difference in Nigeria is that when medications are given to patients in Nigeria, most caregivers usually avoid disclosing the names of the medications, so that they can protect their business. But that is wrong because a pharmacist is expected to take care of patients.
In the United States, pharmacists and physicians adhere to healthcare regulations to make things easy for patients to understand their medications.
Going forward, how can this wrong practice be corrected?
Pharmacy law prescribes that you have to label the medicine before handing it over to patients. This needs to be enforced. The policies and the laws of the Nigerian healthcare systems should be enforced. Laws are as good as non-existing if they are not enforced. Also, monitoring teams need to go round to find out those violating the regulations.
Again, it is necessary to give patients drug information, because if they travel and need to visit a health facility, they will know what to tell the caregivers.
What are the processes to help the society deal with the menace of fake, adulterated, and counterfeit medicines?
I will suggest that pharmacists should be conducting training for nurses on adequate use of medications, while nurses, in return, should learn how to explain medications use to patients.
Patients should be guided on how to recognise counterfeit drugs. They should be educated on the repercussions of buying cheap medications, which could lead to buying of fake ones.
Government also should endeavour to make free medications available, to enable patients know where to get authentic medicines free of charge.
This could be possible if there is a contract between pharmacists and government, where the government pays pharmacists for their services, and pharmacists dispense the medicines free to patients.
With this arrangement, if there is a dispensing fee, pharmacists will ensure that the medicines are not sold in the market, and they could even form a task force to ensure that nobody sells the medicines.
Have you participated in any medical mission? If yes, tell us your experience during the exercise?
We started the Anambra State Association in the United States of America (ASA-USA) and Okija-USA (Okija people in USA). These medical missions were motivated by the fact that our people are not able to see doctors and do not have access to medications. So, some of us came up with the idea of medical mission and decided to come home on our own expenses. We contributed money every year to buy some medications and came home to help our people.
The medical mission team consists of different healthcare professionals, with pharmacists, nurses, doctors and others working together for the good of our people. Unlike visiting the hospital, where patients will have to pay to get cards to see doctors, you don’t need any formalities to see us during the mission; you can just walk in to see the doctors and pharmacists and they dispense medications to the patients, based on their needs after examination.
Let me state clearly that we embarked on the medical mission because of our love for our people, as some of the medical facilities in the state were dilapidated, and there was no access to medical care. In fact, it was when we initiated this idea that the government started picking interest in medical mission. Most patients who cannot afford to see a doctor were able to walk in to get diagnosis and treatment for any problem they had. Some of them, for the first time, knew they had blood pressure or diabetes. Another thing we did was to incorporate health education with the care, because we came across a lot of people who were ignorant of their problems.
The first medical mission we had was from June to August 2008, and I was privileged to coordinate the team.
We rejoice with our Muslim friends, as they successfully completed their Thirty days fasting, praying that the Almighty God grants all their requests, and fulfill their petitions.
Dr Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, has said diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV, cancer, kidney disease and hypertension, are major causes Of 70 percent of deaths recorded during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Minister gave this information in Abuja at the daily briefing of the presidential Task team while fielding questions from newsmen.
Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire
Ehanire also noted that findings from the analysis of death pattern showed that 70 percent to 30 percent of male and female are the death ratio respectively.
“ Findings from the analysis of the death patterns showed 70 per cent to 30 per cent for male and female around that ratio and about 70 per cent fatalities were persons who are 60 years old while a majority of positives were between the ages of 29 and 49; those are the most active ages in life.
“The core morbidity of the fatalities we have had to COVID -19, 70 percent of them have hypertension, or diabetes, and the rest were kidney disease, HIV, cancer, tuberculosis, and other sundry challenges” he added.
Ehanire said their curious findings from the analysis of the deaths showed that nearly half of them died at home, adding that of those who died at home, about 50 percent did not show any symptoms.
“This underscores my earlier emphasis on the need for those who test positive to report for treatment”.
Advising those who have taken the test and awaiting their results, the minister of health said they should heed to the advisory of self-isolations from friends, wear face masks and observe hand and respiratory hygiene until their result is out so that their community and those around them will not necessarily be exposed.
The World Health Organisation, WHO has launched its anticipated COVID-19 information website as well as new search experience for Coronavirus queries.
In a press release by the agency, it stated that its COVID-19 webpage now features an enhanced natural language processing search bar, which understands questions posed in everyday language and more accurately delivers answers to those queries.
According to WHO, the new search on the page finds the most accurate information related to that question from WHO’s website.
Explaining how it works, Christopher Strebel, manager of Digital Content Experience at WHO, said the natural language search allows people to better target the information they are looking for and get the most relevant information available on COVID-19.
He cited for example, if somebody types “what are the symptoms of COVID-19?”, it will search across different parts of WHO’s website that provide information on symptoms to provide the most relevant answer in plain language.
Millions of people worldwide turn to WHO every day for accurate information about the coronavirus. This new feature helps WHO to deliver tailored answers so people can make informed decisions for themselves and their families.
The feature was developed in collaboration with Yext, as a part of the WHO Technology for COVID-19 Initiative, a pro-bono collaboration of technology companies brought together by WHO specifically to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 80 million children worldwide could be at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio due to disruption of routine immunisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO, UNICEF, U.N, and the GAVI vaccine alliance said on Friday.
A recent data has shown that “provision of routine immunization services is substantially hindered in at least 68 countries and is likely to affect approximately 80 million children under the age of one living in these countries,” the World Health Organization, U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and GAVI said in a joint statement issued ahead of the Global Vaccine Summit set for June 4.
Travel restrictions, delays in vaccine deliveries, reluctance among some parents to leave their homes amid fear of exposure to Coronavirus, and a lack of available health workers were behind what it said may be “unprecedented” disruption on a global scale since such expanded programmes began in the 1970s.
“Immunization is one of the most powerful and fundamental disease prevention tools in the history of public health,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Disruption to immunization programmes from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to unwind decades of progress against vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, he said.
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said she and her team cannot let their fight against one disease come at the expense of long-term progress in their fight against other diseases.
“While circumstances may require us to temporarily pause some immunization efforts, these immunizations must restart as soon as possible, or we risk exchanging one deadly outbreak for another,” she added.
According to the release by WHO, several countries are making special efforts to continue immunization. They also added that Uganda is ensuring that immunization services continue along with other essential health services, even funding transportation to ensure outreach activities.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has just announced 245 new cases of COVID-19 and increase in deaths from 211 to 221 deaths.
With the 245 new cases, Nigeria now has a total of 7,261 cases, 2007 recoveries, and 221 deaths.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:50pm 22nd May 2020, there are 7,261 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”. 245 new cases of #COVID19 reported;
It also splitted the 245 new cases into states of occurrence as follows:
– Although shot didn’t trigger enough ‘neutralizing’ antibodies, says expert
Indications are emerging that the world is coming closer to a significant solution to the ravaging novel Coronavirus, as China’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has been pronounced safe after the first clinical trials results published on Friday.
The Chinese vaccine, produced by CanSino, was the very first shot to enter clinical trials earlier this year, months ahead of human testing for the UK’s lead candidate jab – made by Oxford University – or the American lead-contender, made by biotech Moderna, DailyMailonline report revealed.
Vaccine samples
It was found safe after no serious side effects were seen in any of the volunteers, though some had mild reactions, such as fever, pain and muscle aches.
The report also indicated that immune responses were seen in most patients, though more research is needed to determine if its enough to prevent infection.
It was gathered that the Chinese CDCs and universities tested the candidate vaccine in 108 people, and it was found safe, with little limitation, as it did not stimulate adequate neutralizing effects against the infection, as disclosed by a US based expert.
According to Dr Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas :”While any increase in neutralizing antibodies was a significant gain over the subjects’ starting levels (zero) was unimpressed with the levels produced in the trial participants.
“The one thing we’re not seeing is a really high neutralizing antibody titer,” he told DailyMail.com Patients in the trial did have more robust increases in their levels of T cells, immune cells that perform a search and destroy function, rather than the blocking work done by neutralizing antibodies.
While the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi had said earlier in the week that clinical trials for chloroquine will begin in the state next week, and it will take two months for the results to be out.
In a related development, the Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, along with the Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug, Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye and the President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria(PSN) Pharm. (Mazi) Sam Ohuabunwa, had a meeting with Traditional Medical and Herbal Practitioners, who have submitted applications for COVID-19 remedies.
NAFDAC DG had announced on Tuesday that the agency had received four applications from four herbal practitioners for the evaluation of their formulations for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
“We must move forward at our own pace, we must above all have confidence in ourselves and in the therapeutic virtues of nature, for nature and man are one.” – Professor Albert Rakoto Ratsimamanga (Founder, Malagasy Institute of Applied Research, IMRA).
The researchers at Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA) are responsible for the Madagascar COVID-19 “Miracle Cure” on everyone’s lips. As a testament to the public’s positive disposition towards the herbal remedy, it has already found home in six other African countries including Nigeria.
When the Madagascan COVID-Organics landed in Nigeria from Guinea-Bissau, it was met with mixed feelings. This came before NAFDAC received four other herbal formulations produced here in Nigeria for laboratory analysis.
Regardless of the negative publicity surrounding the herbal COVID-19 remedy, traditional medicine remains an indispensable part of our health sector, both in Africa and the rest of the world. In a December 2014 study, 65% to 80% of the world’s healthcare practice involves the use of traditional medicine.
The IMRA research centre is famed for their expertise in combining traditional and modern medicine to produce efficacious drugs. The COVID-Organics will not be their first, they have some fifty approved drugs in their portfolio including the anitidiabetic, Madeglucyl and cough suppressant, Madetoxin.
In Madagascar, unlike many other countries, traditional practice takes centre role in their health sector. In fact, the Madagascar Research Institute, IMRA, is recognised by the WHO and a number of world class health bodies in Europe.
It was learnt that the President of Madagascar began very early to engage the country’s finest researchers to come up with an improved traditional remedy for COVID-19 made up of artemisia and other endemic medicinal plants. This idea to research artemisia did not come out of the blues. This was based off its use in China and past use in the SARS-Coronavirus.
In the heat of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, both chloroquine and artemisia looked promising as potential drugs. Also during the 2002 SARS-Coronavirus, artemisia was the second most potent herbal medicine used. And the 2019-novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is very similar to the SARS-Coronavirus.
Artemisia remains an interesting subject of a significant number of research studies. According to statistics, publications on artemisia grew to 712% in 2010 with India as a leading contributor of literature on the herbal plant.
Currently, that number should have gone up by now with studies being carried out in China, United States, Denmark and Germany at the moment.
It is only normal that citing such strong evidence, that the Madagascan government pushes its drug experts and researchers to study this plant further. It is important to know that the Madagascar’s COVID-19 Organics is actually the effort of a nation’s special breed of scientists and researchers.
However, the international community has maintained a condescending attitude towards the COVID-19 Organics. WHO has repeatedly warned against the use of the herbal cure especially in the absence of a well documented scientific evidence and rigorous clinical trials.
This brings into light one of the major challenges herbal drug promulgators have to constantly deal with and one traditional medicine can rise above through proper documentation of process.
Much doubts remain about the Madagascar “cure”. In the absence of a proven treatment for COVID-19, the search for the miracle cure continues.
A ❏ is caused by a Gram-positive coccus B ❏ is a chronic infectious disease C ❏ has an incubation period of 2 days to 3 years D ❏ is characterised by the development of pneumonia E ❏ may be prevented by vaccination
The Minister of State for Health Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, in company of the Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug, Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye and the President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria(PSN) Pharm. (Mazi) Sam Ohuabunwa, had a meeting with Traditional Medical and Herbal Practitioners, who submitted applications for COVID-19 remedies.
NAFDAC DG had announced on Tuesday that the agency had received four applications from four herbal practitioners for the evaluation of their formulations for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
A cross section of dignitaries at the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, held yesterday as disclosed by the Federal Ministry of Health through its verified Twitter handle, Adeyeye explained the procedures for submission of local preparations to the herbal practitioners.
On the application processes timeline for submitting local treatment solutions, Adeyeye said : “ NAFDAC does a toxicity test to ensure the safety of the drugs and NIPRD does scientific and clinical research before approving the drugs”.
Mamora, had earlier in the meeting advised all practitioners to submit their remedies to both NAFDAC and NIPRD for further analysis and evaluation of their products before a recommendation can be made.
Mallam D.S Wali, an icon of Community Pharmacy in Nigeria, is dead. He passed on two months before his 85th birthday, at the Garkuwa Hospital in Kaduna State around 7:00pm yesterday, 21 May 2020, Pharmanewsonline gathered.
Announcing his demise to Pharmanewsonline, Ahmed Tijjani Mora, said :” We regret to inform you that we lost Mall. D.S Wali, FPSN in Kaduna yesterday evening”.
Pharm. D.S Wali
He disclosed that Mall. Wali was born on 23rd July of 1935 in Kano City, and he would have clocked 85 years this July.
“ Myself and a group of pharmacists that authored his biography: D.S WALI-AN ICON OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY PRACTICE IN NIGERIA (2013) have since his 80th birthday in 2015 been organising a birthday anniversary Lecture on every 23rd July since then”, Mora added.
He is survived by his German-born wife, Jutta a son,Ujudud Andreas who practices medicine in Harrisburg,Pennsylvania,USA,and daughter, Hajiya Amina who is married and lives with her husband in Lagos. They have four grandchildren.
His remains would be buried in Kaduna today in accordance with Islamic injunction.
Prof. M. A. Akanmu is the dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife. In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, he reveals the steps being taken by the faculty in researching into the discovery and design of potential antiviral agents from natural products, as well as re-purposing of existing drugs, based on current knowledge on the mode of entry and replication of COVID-19. Excerpts:
Kudos on your activities so far in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from the production of hand sanitizers, what other initiatives have being taken by the faculty to curb the spread of the virus?
I will still want to talk on the production of “Ifetizer”. In response to the recent cases of coronavirus in the country, the Faculty of Pharmacy came up with a proactive measure to manufacture “Ifetizer”, our own brand of hand sanitizer. We made it available during the induction ceremony of our final year students on 17 March 2020, where we expected a large crowd to participate in the induction.
I was convinced that one little way we could contribute to the prevention of the spread of this coronavirus infection was to initiate the production of “Ifetizer” to be used during the ceremony. We were able to achieve this objective by making sure that fund was made available by myself as the dean, and we were able to produce limited quantities that were used by all the people that attended the programme to sanitise their hands, especially before they were allowed to enter the venue.
We also used the opportunity of the induction ceremony to sensitise the public on the precautionary measures to be taken in preventing the spread of the COVID-19. We equally distributed free samples of 90ml bottle of “Ifetizer” to the dignitaries in attendance. It is instructive to note that this sensitisation and proactive measure took place exactly one week before the index case arrived Nigeria.
Prof. M. A. Akanmu
We have since scaled up production for distribution to the larger community, on demand, especially because hand sanitizer was becoming a scarce commodity since the index case in Nigeria was reported and products of dubious quality started appearing. The university management has secured and distributed certain quantities of 250ml bottles of Ifetizer produced by the faculty. We are currently working on how we can register the sanitizer and a handwash product for commercial scale production.
I am also a member of the University Committee on Covid-19, that is chaired by the Provost of College of Health Sciences. The committee has been involved in the sensitisation of the university community and the public on COVID-19.
It’s obvious that the closure of schools, as necessitated by the outbreak, has affected the academic calendar in some ways. How has the faculty been reaching out to students during this period?
OAU announced the closure of the university on 20 March 2020, effective from Monday, 23 March 2020, in order to prevent further spread of COVID-19. Some lecturers have been interacting with some of the students and I personally have been reaching out to the students through their class representatives and the PANS president, to encourage them to continue to read their books and stay safe since we are yet to commence online learning with regular students of the institution.
I would like to state that most schools that have closed down due to this COVID-19 are making efforts to find stop-gap solutions to continue teaching, but the quality of learning depends greatly on the level and quality of digital access, which we all know is a major problem in this environment.
It should be noted that the best response from any university in this environment at this period is mere “emergency remote teaching”, as opposed to well-organised and validated online teaching methods, and, at its best, has limited benefits, since it cannot be substituted for laboratory practicals and externship training in relation to pharmacy training.
From the side of students as learners, some universities in South Africa for instance, are even still in the process of partnering with government and the private sector to provide access to quality internet service and raise fund to procure laptops to loan to students. At the faculty here, our postgraduate students still have limited access to the laboratories. However, they can still do a lot of work remotely with open communication with their research supervisors.
Indeed, OAU and the entire Nigerian university system would have to review the current experience, document lessons learnt and strengthen the system to be more resilient to shocks. As it were, we are hoping that this does not drag for too long. At some point, the university will necessarily have to revise its academic calendar, review the situation and take appropriate decisions because, indeed, Pharmacy does not stand alone and cannot function alone as an academic programme.
Is there any research ongoing in the faculty towards developing natural products or vaccines for COVID-19?
We have been working on some natural products that are effective against bacteria and viruses. I have just inaugurated a committee of three young academics to prepare a draft proposal for a faculty research project on discovery and design of potential antiviral agents from natural products and re-purposing of existing drugs, based on current scientific knowledge on the mode of entry and mode of replication of COVID-19.
The small committee was selected based on competence in computer-assisted drug design, previous experience in isolation of antiviral compounds from plant sources as published in peer-reviewed and reputable journals, and specialisation in pharmaceutical microbiology. The proposal will be processed through the statutory Faculty Research Committee with contributions from the entire faculty and with contributions from other collaborators within the larger OAU academic community and beyond. I would like to emphasise that the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede is greatly interested in the proposal and he is well informed about the developments.
With respect to vaccine, we are not working on the development of vaccines because we don’t have purpose-built infrastructure that is required for research on viruses, with primary concern for biosafety, even though we have experts in this area. For example, one of our young academic staff had some experience on development of vaccine as a postdoc at the Centre for Disease Control in the US as a WHO-TDR Fellow/Visiting Scientist at Infectious Disease Research Institute, and he is collaborating with other researchers.
In what ways is the present lockdown affecting pharmacy students and what is the plan towards ameliorating this at resumption?
Basically we expect that this lockdown would have affected their academic activities and thus there is need for them to keep their morale high. Based on my interactions with the students through their class representatives and the PANS president, I was informed that the lockdown and the eventual economic effect have really incapacitated them and most of them might not have been able to participate in online classes (if there had been any) because they don’t have the capacity to participate due to the cost of getting data, apart from the current bad network problem and unavailability of power supply in some places. They also said that they would like to have revisions on the previous lectures they had before the university was closed down due to COVID-19 lockdown.
I would like to state that we will do all our possible best in making sure that revisions are carried out on various previous lectures they had before the commencement of the new ones when they resume back to school. We will continue to interact with them during this lockdown through their leaders and also make sure we put everything in place to try to encourage them to work very hard to regain the lost time during the lockdown.
What is your advice to students during this period of staying at home?
The students should make sure they are safe and obey the stay-at-home order. Each student is advised to continuously interact with the assigned official adviser and take advantage of the course outline already available to them to guide self-study before formal resumption of teaching. It is hopeful that this will complement what they have learnt before the closure of the university.
The Lagos State Government has stated that its Isolation Centres will henceforth admit only severe cases of COVID-19, as the state is in her active community transmission stage.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this on Thursday, saying it became necessary to adopt the new strategy, as the state has exceeded her containment stage.
Prof. Akin Abayomi, commissioner for health, Lagos State
He said:” We have exceeded the containment phase now. We are at the active community transmission stage.
“We will be concentrating on people with severe cases and isolating them, while mild cases will be managed at home. Our attention is shifting to community-based isolation”.
Abayomi’s statement came on the heels of the last update of the infection as disclosed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Wednesday night, with Lagos State leading with 199 cases out of the 284 new cases announced in the country.
With the recent move by the state, there is a possibility of limited bed spaces, despite the recent increase in capacity of the eight Isolation Centres, as revealed by the commissioner.
Although the state had initial plans of converting some general hospitals to isolation centres to avoid running out of bed spaces, but it down turned the idea, due to the fear of spreading the disease in the different areas where the hospitals are located.
The eight isolation centres with their capacities as revealed by Abayomi recently are:
“Gbagada General Hospital – 118; Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba – 60; Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba – 115; Onikan Stadium Centre – 100; Landmark Centre – 70; Lekki Centre – 45; Agidingbi Centre – 34; and First Cardiology – 5 (for critical care)”.
Currently, the NCDC put the national tally at 6,677, discharged patients at 1840 and the recorded deaths at 200.
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has reversed the sit-at-home-order issued to her members yesterday, asking them to resume 6pm Thursday.
The Lagos State NMA had given a stay at home order to her members following the continued harassment by the officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force.
NMA explained that the decision was a necessary doctrine of self preservation as it was unbearable combining the continued threat to life from the officers and men of the police force with the existing daily threat of COVID 19.
In a press release announcing the resumption of work, the NMA said :”The leadership of the association has followed the turn of events while monitoring the situation. The Nigerian Police Force has reached out to the association to clarify and give assurance of cooperation with all health-workers.
“ The doctors in Lagos State, under the auspices of NMA, has, and takes seriously, a responsibility to partake actively in the fight against Covid-19 and the delivery of quality healthcare to the citizenry for the entire period of the ongoing lockdown/ restriction of movement and beyond.
“ That the sit at home order issued on the 19th of May is hereby reversed and our members are hereby directed to resume work from 6pm today 21st of May 2020 (this affects those on call duty).
“That the Lagos state government should ensure clarity at all times, on the *exempted* status of healthcare and other essential workers for the entire period of the ongoing lockdown/restriction of movement.
“That the Association will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to take any action to protect the safety of our hardworking members”.
Following his antecedents in academic research, at national and international levels, Pharm. (Prof.) Noel Wannang, secretary general, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP); has been appointed by the Plateau State Governor, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Simon Bako Lalong, as the Head of the State Academic Research Committee on Coronavirus .
Wannang, who comes first among the 13-member-committee, is to lead others in researching into alternative solutions to the pandemic, as well as establishing a modern infectious diseases hospital in Plateau State. Members of the committee are: Prof Noel N. Wannang; Prof Jacob A. Kolawole;.Dr Falang Kakjing; Prof James Damen; Dr Yusuf Agabi; Dr Richard J Kutshik; Dr Bukar Bukata; Dr Ajima Ukpe; Dr Ken Amagon; Dr Longdet I. Yohanna; Representative of the Plateau State Ministry of Health; Representative from the Infectious Unit of Medicine Department, JUTH; and Representative from Veterinary Research Institute, Vom.
Prof Noel Wannang
Addressing members of the committee at the inauguration, Lalong, charged them to brainstorm and come up with practical alternatives to challenge the nation’s dependence on foreign solutions to the infection burden in the state and nation. He stated: “It is important to emphasize that members of this team were assembled purely on merit and in recognition of their antecedents in the field of research.
“While carrying out this special assignment, I want you to have at the back of your mind that at the long run, all our efforts should lead us towards establishing a modern infectious diseases hospital in Plateau State”, he said. Lalong further noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only reminded the state of the need to be proactive, but also to upgrade “ our medical facilities and improving manpower, while working ahead to develop preventive and curative capacity for infectious diseases”.
The Plateau Governor said the Research Committee on Coronavirus and other Infectious Diseases was constituted with key researchers from faculties of pharmaceutical sciences, medical sciences, and natural sciences within the tertiary institutions in the state.
He highlighted the terms of reference of the committee as follows: “ To Search for conventional and/or alternative drugs for the treatment and cure of the Coronavirus.
“ Design treatment protocols for the treatment of the virus.
“Conduct clinical trials on the candidate drug (s). “ Design control mechanism for the spread of the virus. “Any other design that will curtail the pandemic and subsequent diseases.
“ The Committee may co-opt any relevant professional to facilitate its assignment”, he stated.
Just after six months of first reported Coronavirus case in Wuhan, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, has recently shown that more than 5 million people in the world have contracted the virus.
As of Thursday morning, 5,100,895 cases have been confirmed, 329,895 people have died, 2,033,488 people worldwide have recorded, while 1.9 million people have recovered.
The United States remains the country most impacted by the pandemic, with more than 1.5 million cases and at least 93,400 deaths.
Brazil may soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day, pushing the total cases to 291,579 and almost 19,000 deaths.
Russia has almost 309,000 confirmed infections and 2,972 people have died with COVID-19.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 106,000 cases globally, the highest in a single day yet, raising concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in poor nations.
The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global Coronavirus pandemic is believed to have originated, has issued a total ban on the hunting, breeding and human consumption of wild animals, although the source of the disease is yet unknown.
Pharm. Kingsley Ekwunife is the deputy director, Pharmacy Department, National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos.
Born on 29 May, 1971, he had his post-elementary education at the Federal Government College, Ugwulawo, Idah, Kogi State, from 1982 to1988. He proceeded for his tertiary education at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), where he bagged his B. Pharm degree in 1995.
A practitioner in hospital pharmacy, Ekwunife had his internship at the National Orthopaedic hospital, Igbobi Lagos (WHO Collaborating Centre) from 1996 to 1997. He also served as a NYSC pharmacist at the State Hospital Ede, Osun State, from 1997 to 1998. Shortly after, he had a brief stint at community practice when he worked as a part-time pharmacist at Bernados Pharmacy Limited.
Pharm. Kingsley Ekwunife
Since joining the pharmacy department of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Lagos, as a Grade One pharmacist, Ekwunife has always played significant roles in the compounding and advocacy section of the hospital, where he presently heads.
During the outbreak of Ebola virus in 2014, he supervised the production of the first set of hand sanitizers, extemporaneously made in the pharmacy department. Even in the ongoing fight against the spread of COVID-19, he has deployed his wealth of experience into the mass production of hand sanitizers, as well as training several healthcare professionals on how to produce sanitizers, liquid soaps and so on.
A vibrant pharmacist, Ekwunife is a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) where he has held some key positions. He was an erstwhile social secretary of PSN, a position he held from 2011 to 2013. He also served as the vice president, National Union of Health Professional from 2011 to 2014.
Ekwunife also holds membership of other professional bodies locally and internationally. These include the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP); The Hague, Netherland; National Union of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists (NAHAP); and National Union of Health Care Professionals (NUAP). He is a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP).
A devout Christian and catholic, Ekwunife is an entrepreneur par excellence. He is the CEO Kingsland Pharmacy Limited, Satellite Town, Lagos. He is happily married with children.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has just announced 284 new cases of COVID-19 and increase in deaths from 192 to 200 deaths.
With the 284 new cases, Nigeria now has a total of 6,677 cases, 1840 recoveries, and 200 deaths.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:50pm 20th May 2020, there are 6,677 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
284 new cases of #COVID19 reported;
It also splitted the 284 new cases into states of occurrence as follows:
To enhance effective protection of healthcare workers in the raging battle against COVID-19 in the country, Professional Association of Public Health Nursing of Nigeria (PAPHNON) has given some packs of personal protective equipment to the state government.
The items presented at the Ministry of Health Wednesday were: Seven cartons of Hypo, Two cartons of latex gloves, containing 2000 pieces, 1000 pieces of facemasks, and Two cartons of hand sanitizers.
Immediate Past National Chairman, PAPHNON, Mrs Adeyemi Oluwatayo,.(right) presenting the materials to Mrs Tunwase Adebowale, while Mrs Dorcas Shonibare, and other members of the association, look in admiration.
Presenting the PPEs to the trio of representative of the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Tunwase Adebowale; Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Dr Moyosore Adejumo and Director of Nursing Services, Mrs Dorcas Shonibare, the Immediate Past National Chairman, PAPHNON, Mrs Adeyemi Oluwatayo said it’s their own way of assisting the government in the management of this global pandemic.
She explained the essence of their mission was to ensure that nurses are protected, as frontline health workers in the ongoing pandemic, noting that their safety is paramount, as they care for the common man in the state, they also need to be protected.
Oluwatayo also seized the opportunity to draw the attention of the state government to the neglect of public health nursing, saying several public health nurses have retired without replacement, and this is impacting that aspect of healthcare negatively in the state.
L-R: Mrs Tunwase Adebowale, representative of the Permanent Secretary; Dr Moyosore Adejumo, DPS; Mr Dorcas Shonibare, DNS; Mrs Oluwatayo Adeyemi, immediate past national chairman, PAPHNON, at the presentation of the protective materials, at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Alausa, Ikeja.
She said: “For our impact to be felt more in the society, part of the problem is the fact that majority of the public health nurses that have retired and not replaced, we do not have new intake of public health nurses.
She continued:” Besides, for sometime now, Lagos State nurses go to Oyo state to train, and I’m sure Lagos State government does not appreciate who public health nurses are. We are versed in knowledge and lot of us in diaspora are doing very well, and I’m not sure if they are willing to return”.
Oluwatayo, further appealed to the state government to help fill the vacuum left by retired public health nurses by recruiting well-trained nurses, and create a conducive environment for public health nursing to thrive as it is done abroad.
“What bothers me most is the fact that the curriculum that is being run here is the same that is run over there abroad. When our nurse graduates from Nigeria travel outside the shores of this country, they are not expected to do any other programme not even PGD, they are sent for their MSc programme immediately”, she stated.
She hinted more about the group, saying as a specialist group of public health professionals, they belong to the Society for Public Health Professionals of Nigeria( SPHPN) which is an affiliate of Africa Federation of Public Health Professionals and also a member of the World Federation of public health professionals.
Receiving the protective materials, on behalf of the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, the trio of Adebowale, Adejumo and Shonibare appreciated the nurses for their efforts in helping to stop the spread of the virus in the state.
Adejumo, also assured the nurses that the government will definitely put the items into good use for the protection of healthcare workers in the state.
Fielding questions from pressmen at the presentation, Shonibare urged nurses to make their safety paramount, as frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19.
Acknowledging their essential role in the healthcare delivery system, as the only caregivers that stay with patients 24/7, she said their health conditions is very germane to the health of the nation, as their services are required to nurse the nation to health.
According to her words: Nurses are the frontline health workers in any pandemic. Other professionals only come to attend to patients and go, but it is only nurses that stay with patients 24/7 nursing them.
“My advice for nurses is that nurses should protect themselves, we always say there is no emergency in pandemic, because you must save yourself before you can save others.
“So you can imagine if I have only 30 nurses and 25 tested positive for Coronavirus, so how will I use only 5 nurses to take care of remaining patients? That is why it is important for nurses to be alive and healthy to take care of the other patients”, she submitted.
“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” says Dr John C. Maxwell. “But knowing how to lead is only half the battle. Understanding leadership and actually leading are two different activities.”
The key to transforming yourself from someone who understands leadership to a person who successfully leads in the real world is character. Your character qualities activate and empower your leadership ability, or they can stand in the way of your success
Dr Ted Engstrom says that organisations succeed or fail for many different reasons. Even the mature organisation or nation is not without its hazards. In many ways, the dangers that it faces are more subtle. They are often the result of success rather than failure.
Certain signs indicate leadership in danger and we will attempt here to determine strategies for avoiding these pitfalls. It has been well said that an organisation begins with a person, becomes a movement that develops into a machine, and eventually becomes a monument. How do these things happen? Here are some signs of leadership in danger and the associated strategies to avoid them:
Pharm. Lere Baale
Settling for the status quo
How easy it is for the leadership to be willing to settle for the status quo, to struggle to “keep things as they are.” But it is impossible for any organisation to stand still. It will either progress or regress. The only constant is change and it is necessary for organisations or nations to move forward.
This is also true in our personal life. Once we settle for maintaining things as they are now, we, at that moment, begin to slide toward ineffectiveness, a slide that becomes steeper the farther we go. One of the clues that we are settling for the status quo is that we have very little internal tension within the organisation. This naturally leads us to the next danger.
Eliminating creative tension
Leaders of organisations that “have it made” tend to resist creative tensions. They like to settle for peace and calm. Creative leaders have new ideas. They want to change things, to make them better. But new ideas bring with them a conflict of interest, and conflict of interest brings internal tension.
When a new idea is offered, too often what we hear is, “You have done things wrong,” rather than “here’s a better way.” The result of eliminating creative tension is that we often fail to face up to the situation around us. An example of this might be how we handle the world economic scene with its increasing inflation. If we do not go through the struggle of creatively addressing ourselves to the tensions this is going to create in our nation, many organisations will find themselves in deep difficulty down the road.
Not planning in-depth
Almost every organisation does some planning, but if leaders fail to plan in-depth and in-breadth, danger lies ahead. In other words, it is too easy for us to look for quality and quantity as a primary result of our planning, rather than quality and meaningfulness in the programme. These need to be placed in priority. Quality is far more important than quantity. Size or quantity must always be secondary to effectiveness.
Discriminating between breadth and depth is not easy. That is why there is a real danger here. Leaders may have a great desire to expand throughout and beyond our community or to the rest of the world, but if the quality of our products or services is not being continually strengthened, then we may discover that we have over-extended ourselves.
Stopping to listen
A very subtle danger for experienced leaders is a failure to really hear and listen to other colleagues, to give them a role in participatory leadership. Younger staff members have a great deal to contribute. Often we are so certain that we have “been there” before that we do not hear them. This is even truer of our usual attitude toward younger women staff members.
Those who are older and who provide leadership need to have an open heart to what younger colleagues may say. After all, it is self evident that tomorrow’s leadership rests with them. If we want to ensure the continuation of a solid performance culture, then we need to invest ourselves in the developing leadership. Part of the investment is to have the will and time to listen.
Depending on past successes
How easy it is to place our confidence in what the organisation has done in the past, or even what it is doing now. It is easy to bask in the accolades of others who tell us what a great job we have done. But our dependency is not on what we have accomplished in the past or what we are doing now. Rather, it should be on the work and the tasks to be accomplished tomorrow.
Depending on personal experience
This is a corollary to depending upon the organisation’s experience. Too many of us are ready to depend upon our own brainpower, expertise, and experience rather, than to depend upon God Himself. Today’s activities are so much unrelated to the past that experience itself may not be a major predictor of success in the future.
Neglecting the highest good
Here is a danger of which we are all aware but too often face. It is the danger of becoming so busy in what are genuinely good and fine works that we neglect the highest good, which is our devotion to our immediate family and God.
Forgetting unity
Good organisations should have both the promise and the demand of a special kind of unity. We are related to one another as the different parts of the same organisation. This relationship is not an option—it is a given. The maintenance of this type of unity takes skill and perseverance.
Unity is not the absence of a healthy conflict caused by creativity and differences of opinion. Unity finds its first dimension in the allegiance we have to our organisation. It finds its expression in our recognition that each of us has gifts that help us to function as parts of the organisation. Part of our task is to affirm one another’s gifts and to respect one another’s roles. This is a primary task of good leaders.
Losing the joy of service
How quickly those who are in the work, who are on the frontlines of service, can lose the real joy of that service. Paradoxically, the further we proceed in positions of leadership and authority, the greater servants we should become. The highest role of leadership is that of servant. Leaders need to be undergirded with authority and perquisites of office. However, if these are seen as being the just due of the individual, rather than the accoutrements of the office, we can become dangerously close to believing that we are the ones who should be served. The servant role ought to mark us. It is in this kind of service that there is the deepest joy, gratification, and satisfaction.
Forgetting the bottom line
Accountants like to call our attention to the “bottom line,” the final statement of what is left over after outgo has been balanced off against income. Every organisation needs to know what its “bottom line” is. Everything must head towards the goal and objective.
Being desperate to remain popular
Former Prime Minister of UK, Tony Blair, once said: “Leadership can be an unpopular business. The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
One of the greatest signs of leadership in danger is seeking for popularity at all cost, rather than face the key goals of the organisation. When leading, we must always put our followers first; we must always consider what is best for our team members; we must always be servant leaders. However, in the course of business, as leaders, we will occasionally find ourselves in a position where in order to do the best for our team members we must first make hard decisions that are not readily understood or agreed to by them. We must not allow our resolve to weaken because of pressure brought by those who would have us bend to their wishes! We are the leaders. We must lead; we must not follow. We must be strong.
Relegating integrity
Wayne Kehl says that in order to lead, you must maintain the integrity of your team. Without the team, you will have no one to lead. However, you must also do everything you can to maintain the profitability of your division and your company. To that end you will invariably have to make unpopular decisions. In fact, if you are in a leadership position and never find yourself making unpopular decisions, you are probably not doing a very good job for your company or your team.
In order to lead, even when you have made an unpopular decision, you must be well trusted – that is, be of high impeccable integrity. “How can I do both?” you might ask. You must clearly and concisely communicate the reasons for your difficult or unpopular decisions to your team. Only through open, honest, timely communication can you gain the trust of your team that will carry you through a myriad of difficult decisions.
Never lie or mislead and always disseminate difficult information to the team as soon as you can. Because of your strong communication efforts, most will understand that you are doing the best thing for the team and they will shower you with trust in the moment and trust enduring.
“But, I am afraid they won’t like me and I will be unpopular!” you might say. Please accept that a leader who is indecisive, inconsistent, dishonest, misleading, or a pushover will be much more unpopular than one who is open, honest, decisive, and courageous. Team members need to know that they have a strong leader; a leader they can trust to fight for their best interests.
By the way, please don’t confuse strength with gruffness or rudeness. Difficult information must be shared cordially; not dictated brusquely. Don’t be afraid; powerful servant leadership will make you popular beyond your wildest dreams! Great leadership is hard work!
Which of these pitfalls is your organisation most prone to fall into? Now is a great time to take stock of what dangers might be ahead for you. Knowing the bumps on the road ahead can make all the difference in avoiding them.
Lere Baale is a Director of Business School Netherlands www.bsn.eu and Certified Strategy Consultant at Howes Consulting Group www.howesgroup.com
Following reported harassment and arrest of some health workers on essential duties in Lagos State, for allegedly violating the curfew order imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the state Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has directed its members to immediately proceed on an indefinite sit-at-home beginning from 6 pm on Wednesday.
A statement jointly signed by NMAs Chairman and Secretary, Saliu Oseni and Ramon Moronkola respectively, said their decision was as a result of the conflicting directives by the state government and law enforcement agents on the status of essential workers, including doctors and other health workers.
The Lagos State Branch of the NMA has resolved that it is presently unsafe for its members to continue to provide healthcare services under the present confused arrangement, the statement reads.
Nigerian Medical Association logo
We resolve that all doctors under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association in Lagos to proceed on a sit-at-home starting from 6.00 p.m. today, May 20, indefinitely.
Until such time when the state government and the Commissioner of Police, are clear on how they wish to operationalize the lockdown/restriction of movement directive as it relates to essential service and service providers, including healthcare services and doctors.
The NMA asked the state government to issue a written statement, signed by representative of the state government and the appropriate police authorities, with clear terms on the status of essential services, including healthcare services and its providers.
It should be advertised in the social and mainstream media, and a copy submitted to the Secretariat of the Lagos State Branch of NMA.
Whereas, the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, was clear on the exemption of essential workers including doctors and other health-workers from the ongoing lockdown/movement restrictions.
The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, has been issuing conflicting directives on social and mainstream media to the effect that essential workers, including doctors and other health workers are not exempted.
As a direct result of the conflicting directives of the government and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the Lagos State branch of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was inundated yesterday evening with several cases of harassments and intimidation of doctors and other health-workers by officers and men of the Police Command in Lagos State.
The healthcare workers were either resuming duty, returning home, or on-transit to heed an emergency call. There was a most disturbing case of an ambulance conveying an injured patient which was prevented from moving to destination, while the attending health workers were harassed and temporarily detained, the NMA said.
“The group recalled that similar situation occurred sometimes in the early phase of the ongoing lockdown/restriction of movement based on similar conflicting directives from the commissioner of police.
It took the intervention of the State governor, following a petition by the association, for normalcy to be restored, it said.
Barely 24 hours after issuing a directive banning medical practitioners, journalists, and other professionals considered as essential service providers from moving during curfew period, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has confirmed the exemption of all essential workers from the restriction of movement associated with both the partial lockdown and the national curfew across the federation.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba stated this in a new press release on Wednesday.
IGP Mohammed A. Adamu
He noted as, against the earlier directive that journalists’ medical personnel and others categorized as essential workers cannot move during the lockdown and 8 pm to 6 am curfew, those mentioned can now move with proper identification.
According to him, all essential workers including medical personnel, firefighters, ambulance services, journalists, and others are exempted from the restriction of movement associated with both the partial lockdown and the national curfew across the Federation.
“Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed A. Adamu has therefore directed all Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police and Commands Commissioners of Police to give effect to these exemptions whilst enforcing the restriction orders, ” Mba said.
The IGP through a press release had earlier directed commissioners of police across states where curfew we’re expected to be in effect, not to exempt any professional found violating the curfew orders from been arrested.
Since the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, it is on record that no drug or vaccine has been officially approved for the treatment of COVID-19.
However, there are emerging reports of how COVID-19 patients are having potential therapeutic benefits from existing drugs meant for ailments like antimalarial, HIV / AIDS, Ebola and arthritis in different parts of the world.
Packs of Pyramax on display
From remsedivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and now – Pyramax®️ – a WHO prequalified artemisinin-based combination therapy for the treatment of malaria, which contains active substances like pyronaridine tetraphosphate and artesunate.
Registered as a frontline drug of choice in the treatment of malaria in Nigeria and 21 other countries across the globe, Pyramax has officially been approved for clinical trials in South Korea to compare and evaluate its efficacy and safety in treating patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, equivalent of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in South Korea has allowed the product manufacturer Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals to conduct clinical trials of Pyramax which has currently entered phase II at four medical institutions in the Asian country.
According to Ajunews, a South Korean news site, Pyramax was licensed as a new drug in the country in 2011.
Korean Biomed also reports that the shares of Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals have shot up since the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Korea on January 20, courtesy of the discovery that Pyramax has the potential to combat the virus.
The Korean Pharmaceutical’s stock price surged 168 percent to close at 19,050 won ($15.67) Friday, compared with 7,120 won (local currency) recorded on January 20 and reached a peak of 25,000 won over the past 52 weeks. Since the nation confirmed the first case, Shin Poong drew investors’ attention as the company’s antimalaria treatment was mentioned as a candidate for COVID-19 treatment.
Since its outbreak, the pandemic has opened up a yawning market for vaccines, diagnostic kits and for essential medicines that show potential for COVID-19.
Several antivirals have been tested worldwide with renowned scientists predicting that humanity has a higher chance of developing a potent drug using different compositions of conventional antiviral medicines rather than trying to research and develop a totally new drug.
The world is gradually watching closely to see how the promises of Pyramax would pan out once it scale the Phase II clinical trials.
Medical practitioners, journalists and other professionsals considered as essential service providers may no longer be allowed to enjoy the privilege of free movement, particularly during the 8pm to 6am curfew, after a directive from the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, that professionals under the category were no longer exempted from curfew, and may be arrested if they violate the movement restriction order.
As gathered, Adamu, through a press release, had directed commissioners of police across states where curfew were expected to be in effect, not to exempt any professional found violating the curfew order from been arrested.
The release further directed all commissioners to ensure strict restriction of movement during the curfew and that the action was in line with effort to curtail spread of coronavirus in the country.
As cases of the novel Coronavirus are on the increase by the day, with healthcare practitioners faced with unending battle with the virus, scientists have found that this is already having a negative toll on the practitioners, as some of them are down with mental health issues.
A study conducted by scientists from China suggests that significant numbers of healthcare staff are experiencing anxiety, symptoms of depression, and feelings of distress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Healthcare workers fighting COVID-19
Also, a new research from Italy, echoes this and found that among 1,379 survey respondents in the healthcare sector, 49.38 percent reported PTSD symptoms.
“It will take some time until the full picture of the psychological toll on healthcare staff emerges, but professional organisations have already started to provide resources specifically for this group”, MNT reported.
Reacting to this development in Nigeria, Chairman, Clinical Pharmacists Association of Nigerian (CPAN) Dr Joseph Madu, said post traumatic stress disease, PTSD is a more serious manifestation of stress and fear and is getting more common in the country today especially among health workers (including clinical pharmacists, whose work involves bedside or direct patient care) because even the PPEs claimed to have been provided by the government have not been enough or can be said to be negligible in terms of quantity.
He explained further: “We are aware of PPEs being sent to COVID-19 isolation centres, but we are not aware of much being sent to community pharmacies or hospitals, which are usually the first port of call for some of the patients.
“Some of these patients go to the community pharmacy, clinic, or non COVID-19 government hospital first to lodge complaints of the symptoms they may be experiencing before they be asked to call the NCDC lines, or get referred”.
Madu stated that healthcare worker could be infected even before the suspected patient is confirmed positive of COVID-19, due to lack of PPEs while attending to the patient.
He highlighted some ways the association has been helping to curtail this challenge, such as assisting pharmacists in urging the government through the press to provide and let the PPEs go round among health workers, training of pharmacists, on the best and most effective methods of applications of PPEs for curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Psychosocial virtual training about the challenges of delivering healthcare in this period is also being delivered, to pharmacists, he noted.
Also speaking on nurses welfare, the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) Lagos Chapter, Mrs Blessing Israel noted that the association has been giving emotional and psychological virtual trainings to nurses, to help them overcome the burden.
According to her: “The association is giving emotional and psychological support to members, as we engage them on virtual trainings, and send relieve materials to nurses in all the tiers of government and to nurses who are positive to COVID-19 at isolation centres”.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has released a data of 226 new cases of COVID-19, 192 deaths, and 1734 recoveries.
With the 226 new cases, Nigeria now has a total of 6,401 cases, 1734 recoveries, and 192 deaths.
States according to data are :131-Lagos; 25-Ogun, 15-Plateau;11-Edo; 7-Kaduna; 6-Oyo; 5-FCT; 5-Adamawa; 4-Jigawa; 4-Ebonyi; 4-Borno; 3-Nasarawa; 2-Bauchi; 2-Gombe; 1-Enugu; 1-Bayelsa.
X is a compound. its structural features revealed that the moiety contains the cyclo pentano perhydro phenanthrene ring. it helps in glucose metabolism. the origin of X is from?
Choose the option that best describes the statement below
Terazosin:
A ❏ constricts smooth muscle B ❏ is a selective beta-blocker C ❏ increases urinary flow rate D ❏ may cause an increase in blood pressure E ❏ is indicated in urinary frequency
Experts from the United Kingdom have warned people living with asthma or other respiratory conditions to desist from wearing face mask because it could make breathing difficult for them.
Although people have been advised to wear face masks when in public or in the midst of other people, to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus, but people who have asthma or other lungs illnesses may find it difficult to breathe with face coverings.
The problem, however, for such people is that they are also at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill if they are infected the virus, and may be more likely to spread it when they’re infectious.
Experts say people should wear a mask if they comfortably can, to protect themselves and others around them, but not risk their own health in the process.
In its official guidance, Britain’s Cabinet Office says: “If you can, wear a face covering in an enclosed space where social distancing isn’t possible and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet. This is most relevant for short periods indoors in crowded areas, for example, on public transport or in some shops.”
But it adds: “Face coverings should not be used by children under the age of 2 or those who may find it difficult to manage them correctly. For example, primary age children unassisted, or those with respiratory conditions.”
Regarding the condition, UK expert says: “For some people with asthma, wearing a face covering might not be easy. It could make it feel harder to breathe.
“The government has advised that people with respiratory conditions don’t need to wear face coverings, so if you are finding it hard, then don’t wear one.”
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:30pm 24th May 2020, there are 7,839 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
Making the disclosure via its Twitter handle, the NCDC said: “As at 11:50pm 20th May 2020, there are 6,677 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria”.
