Treasury has lifted a freeze on 1,000 posts in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, with effect from next month.

This would see the recruitment of nurses to ease the workload in Zimbabwe’s health institutions, an official has said.

Health and Child Welfare acting secretary Dr Davis Dhlakama said the decision to lift the freeze was with effect from March.Dr Dhlakama said this while giving oral evidence before a Senate Thematic Committee on HIV/AIDS.

“We have a challenge of human resources because of job freeze.The Ministry of Finance has unfrozen 1,000 posts, as of March this year and it will give us further space,” said Dr Dhlakama.

He said the decision to export nurses was conceived after a realisation that they could not absorb them, owing to the job freeze directive by Treasury.

Tuberculosis (TB) is said to be a silent killer in the Upper East Region. The disease has claimed 154 lives in the Bolgatanga Municipality alone, between 2006 and 2012.

The period also recorded 1,397 cases. The Bolgatanga Municipal TB and HIV Coordinator, Mr. Williams Amankwa, made these revelations on a weekly health programme on A1 Radio recently.

According to him, TB cases often went up whenever HIV cases went up, because the humane system of the affected persons also went down. For instance, he said, when the Municipality topped the rest of the regional capitals in the HIV prevalent rate in 2011, TB cases also went up to 261, with 13 deaths.

Though 2011 recorded the highest number of cases, it also recorded 13 deaths, which was the lowest number of deaths, as compared with the death toll in other years.

Other years and their cases and death tolls included 2006: 181 cases, 24 deaths; 2007: 182 cases, 17 deaths; 2008: 169 cases, 35 deaths; 2010: 248 cases, 20 deaths and 2012: 212 cases, 16 deaths.

Dr. Samuel Aborah, Head of Public Health Unit at the Regional Hospital and TB Coordinator, also revealed that the hospital recorded 625 cases between 2010 and 2012, with 16 deaths.

The two observed that TB cases were high in the region, because there was still the high incidence of stigmatisation against persons who were diagnosed of TB. They also dismissed the assertion that TB was a curse.

They said the treatment of the disease was free of charge, and urged residents to report to the hospitals when they experienced prolonged cough, weight loss, and night fever, for TB tests to be conducted.

TB kills one and a half million people worldwide, mostly in developing countries. This year’s World TB Day fell on 24th February.

Lilongwe — Malawi is again experiencing a crisis in the delivery of essential medicines, with understaffed clinics and erratic drug supplies preventing many dangerously ill patients from accessing treatment.

Frequent drug shortages and stock-outs have plagued the country’s health system in recent years. According to a 2012 report by the UK charity Oxfam, only 9 percent of local health facilities (54 out of 585) had the full Essential Health Package list of drugs for treating 11 common diseases. Additionally, clinics were often out of basic antibiotics, HIV test kits and insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and in many facilities, stocks of vaccines were dangerously low. According to news reports, public hospitals had run out of 95 percent of essential medicines by the end of January.

In early February, President Joyce Banda met with health department officials and healthcare workers to address the crisis.

The situation was brought to light when doctors at Kamuzu Central Hospital in the capital, Lilongwe, wrote an open letter to Banda, calling for an urgent solution to the shortages, which included lack of intravenous fluids, antibiotics, syringes and plasters.

“We have been struggling to provide these supplies, using our private funding donated by friends and families, but we have come to realise that the situation, already dire, is not improving, and our current strategy is neither sufficient nor sustainable. In the meantime, we are experiencing the deaths of patients from treatable diseases (diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria), which is heart-breaking. Talking to our colleagues, the situation is the same in all public hospitals,” the letter said.

Kamuzu Central Hospital administrator, Naureed Alide, said the doctors decided to write the open letter to the president only after exhausting all other avenues. “There has not been any positive response befitting the current situation,” he said.

Tucked away about 20 metres from the Kampala-Masaka highway at Busega is Kityo Herbal Research Project, a haven for those who want to rid themselves of dental cavities and halitosis (bad breath).

Tracing Kityo’s clinic was no easy job, as he was new in the area and unfamiliar to many. In fact, one motorcyclist said he had heard that a witch-doctor had invaded the area.

When I finally traced the place, the diminutive Dr Kityo, as he prefers to be called, donning black socks, khaki trousers and pale white shirt loosely hanging over the trousers, welcomed me. However, I was supposed to remove my shoes. I felt a bit of indignation, as I looked at the floor dotted with ash, broom sticks and black seeds.

My stomach felt strange and my palms were clammy. Having the motorcyclist’s view stamped on my mind, I was terrified. Of course, it’s not really a fear of being in a shrine; it’s the view of what happens there – facelessvoices talking to me. My sense of security was screamingly absent.

Smoke and heat swirled around the room, as I made my way in. A charcoal stove kept aglow all the time for easier melting of a few grammes of ghee, one of the ingredients Kityo employs. Inside were two youthful clients that had issues with their teeth. I watched their treatment.

Kityo grabbed a small black pot and cleaned it with a few broom sticks and water to remove any contamination from the last user. He then dropped herbs into the pot before adding a hot piece of charcoal and the ghee. He quickly crowned the pot brim with a circular woven lid with a little opening, through which clients inhaled the odour.

The odour was choking. Throughout the procedure, coughing, spitting and squinting of teary eyes were highlights. The inhaling took 15-20 minutes until the fire died out. He uncovered the pot and, using a pair of hooked metal, removed a tiny brown or pale white substance that had collected at the bottom.

“This is the dirt from your teeth,” he told a client, urging her to go home and rest and call him later, to confirm whether her teeth had healed. The client, with a happy face but bloodshot eyes from the piercing smoke, parted with Shs 50,000 and started chewing on a green apple she had carried along.

Kityo said he has been at this job for 10 years and his medication caters for all age group.

Over 100 people with cleft lips are set to benefit from free reconstructive surgery to be conducted at the University Central Hospital of Kigali (CHUK).

The free surgical programme, which started on February 22, was organised by Operation Smile, a non-profit volunteer medical services organisation providing free reconstructive surgery.

A cleft lip is a malformation where the lip has not fused together and fully formed and looks like a gap in the upper lip, while a cleft palate is a hole in the roof of the mouth.

Out of every 1,000 babies born in the region, one is born with a cleft lip or palate, according to Kia Guarino, the Operation Smile Programmes Manager in Africa.Operation Smile will be operating on people with this deformity for the fourth time since 2010.

According to Guarino, more than 500 people found with cleft lips and palate were operated upon in 2010, when the organisation first came to Rwanda.

Currently, there’s no national data showing the status of this disease in Rwanda but Guarino said they are working together with the Ministry of Health to ascertain the number of people who have this deformity.

She added that Operation Smile team won’t only provide surgery but also provide basic life support training to Rwandan medics.

“So far, 256 local medical professionals have received this training, 10 medics have also been trained as trainers and others as Aesthesia Technicians. We want to build capacity, such that in the near future, many Rwandan medics will be in position to carry out these surgical procedures,” she said.

Dr Immaculate Kamanzi, the head of the dental surgery department at CHUK, explained that people are usually born with this disease and in most cases, the cause is unknown.

“Although most times the causes of this deformity are unknown, other causes could be pollution or genetic, for instance, if parents had the genes then their children are likely to suffer the same,” she said and urged parents to ensure proper feeding on balanced diet, as one of the preventive measures.

Researchers have discovered how a new class of antimalarial drugs kills the malaria parasite, showing that the drugs block a pump at the parasite surface, causing it to fill with salt.

In work conducted at the Research School of Biology (RSB) at The Australian National University (ANU), and published in the latest edition of Cell Host & Microbe, Dr Natalie Spillman showed that the malaria parasite has, at its surface, a protein that serves as a molecular salt pump, pushing sodium ions out of the parasite.

“It was within a week or two of our identification of the pump protein that a paper came out reporting the discovery of the spiroindolone antimalarials,” Dr Spillman said.

“The authors of the spiroindolone study identified the pump protein as being of particular interest, from the point of view of how the spiroindolones might work, but the exact mechanism was a mystery.

Linking up with members of the spiroindolone-development team in Singapore (Novartis Institutes for Tropical Diseases) and the US (Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation), Dr Spillman showed that spiroindolones block the parasite’s salt pump, causing the cell to fill rapidly with salt.

“We believe the spiroindolones kill the parasite by causing a salt overload,” Dr Spillman said.

RSB Director Professor Kiaran Kirk, the senior author on the study, says this vulnerability in the parasite’s physiology can be exploited to develop much needed new antimalarial drugs.

“The malaria parasite’s salt pump would seem to be an Achilles heel for the parasite, particularly vulnerable to attack. Knowing this, we can now look for other drugs that block this pump. We can also start to investigate how the parasite might be able to change the shape of the pump and thereby develop resistance to this class of drugs. Both of these aspects are going to be very important in our ongoing battle with the parasite.”

The spiroindolones are the first genuinely novel class of chemicals to be tested in malaria patients for over 20 years.

“We desperately need new antimalarials and the spiroindolones, now in advanced clinical trials, are looking extremely promising,” Professor Kirk said.

“Understanding how these compounds kill the parasite gives us a tremendous advantage.”

The malaria parasite is a single-celled organism that invades the red blood cells of its human host, killing more than a million people each year. It is becoming increasingly resistant to most of the antimalarial drugs that are currently in use.

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriaki Dickson,has lauded a pharmaceutical company, Swiss Biotab Limited, for donating anti-bacterial and water treatment drugs worth millions of naira.

The Governor, who was represented by his Health Commissioner, Dr. AnapurereAwoli, expressed gratitude to the company for identifying with the government and people of the state in their time of need. He added that the drugs will go a long way in cushioning the highly envisaged post flood demands of displaced persons in rural communities across the state.

While assuring the company of government’s desire to adequately distribute the drugs to various relief camps and communities where they will be needed, he renewed his call on organisations within and outside the country to support the relief efforts of government. He noted that the magnitude of the floods and anticipated problems were beyond the capacity of the state government alone.

Earlier, while presenting the drugs, the Regional Sales Manager, south-south of the company, Mr. Amadi Eric, described the donation as the company’s modest contribution to government efforts at mitigating the devastating effects of the flood.

He explained thatthe management of the company took the decision to come to the aid of the flood victims after receiving an extensive briefing on the plight of the people from the Chief Historian and Archivist of the State, Dr. TemeghaOlali, and calls by government for assistance.

Twelve doctors, including five neurosurgeons, have been trained on conducting hydrocephalus surgery in a cheaper and safer way. Hydrocephalus is a condition which results in accumulation of water in the brain and is usually seen through an enlarged head at birth or at a later stage.

Zimbabwe Association of Neurosurgeons secretary, Professor Kazadi Kalangu, said the training conducted by Spanish and Kenyan experts would see doctors diverging from implanting a shunt into the brain to drain excess water.

The surgeons would now use another procedure called neuroendoscopic ventriculostomy.

“A shunt is associated with many complications, such as infections, and is very expensive, compared to the new procedure,” Dr Kalangu said.He said it costs an average of US$4,000 to have the operation done in private institutions and about US$700 in Government hospitals.

However, with the advent of neuroendoscopic ventriculostomy, Dr Kalangu said, costs are anticipated to go down by more than half.The team operated on 10 cases, mainly children, during the training.

Mr Kalangu said his association, in partnership with the government, University of Zimbabwe and the Neurosurgical Education Development Foundation, have since secured equipment for use in future operations.He said Zimbabwean neurosurgeons will start using the technique.

“This procedure was only available at Parirenyatwa Hospital because that is where the machines were available and it was only accessible to a few patients because the machine was only one. It was not available, not even in private service,” he said.

Director of clinical services at Parirenyatwa Hospital, Mr Sydney Makarawo, said the new procedure would assist disadvantaged children to get treatment.

“We are going to be able to do this operation on more babies who cannot afford to buy a shunt, which costs US$250, as well as paying for the expensive operation. With this procedure,there is nothing implanted in the system,”he said.

A serious malaria outbreak in Manicaland province has claimed 10 lives, while more than 22,000 people were treated of the disease in one week alone. Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare shows that of the 22,480 cases reported last week, 3,546 and one death were children under the age of five years.

Health and Child Welfare Deputy Minister Douglas Mombeshora said a team of health experts had since been dispatched to the affected areas to contain the outbreak.

Minister Mombeshora said last week’s figures bring the total number of malaria cases to 62,587 and 32 deaths nationwide.

“We have already started recording an increase in malaria cases this year, following the incessant rains and some floods,” Minister Mombeshora said.

Last year, the country recorded 8,547 cases and 13 deaths of malaria, nationally. The outbreak in Manicaland has largely affected Buhera and Mutare districts but some deaths were also recorded in Mutoko and Harare. Zimbabwe has a long history of malaria outbreaks because of its high altitude.

Areas above 1,500m, such as Harare, are usually malaria free, while areas below 900m are normally a high risk to malaria, particularly in the north where the altitude is between 900 and 1500m.

In Zimbabwe, malaria endemic areas include Mutare, Gokwe, Mutoko, Dande, Chikombedzi, Mudzi, Hwange and Mt Darwin. After HIV and AIDS, malaria is the biggest killer of children under five in Zimbabwe and pregnant women, as well as newborns.

Malaria is increasingly becoming resistant to existing drugs. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of reported outbreaks, specifically linked to flooding. These include diarrhoeal outbreaks and malaria.

The sensitivity of the disease to certain environmental conditions suggests that climate change may influence the nature of the disease and the size and severity of outbreaks

Kenya marked the International Childhood Cancer Day on February 15, 2013 with hopes to raise awareness. The day was observed at a time when Kenya is grappling with an upsurge of child related cancers.

Kenyatta Hospital had a forum to give information on cancer, while the cancer association held an art auction at the village market to help support needy children with cancer. The theme of the event was “see cancer through a child’s eye”.

The government is to conduct a nationwide mass immunisation campaign against pneumonia and diarrhoea.

State Minister for Health (General Duties) Sarah Kataike said the campaign will be conducted using funds from the Global Alliance on Vaccines Initiative.

She said the vaccination is scheduled to start in April.

“The Government is emphasising preventive health because it has been proven that preventive health is less costly and better for this country,” Kataike said.

She said on top of the other vaccinations against tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus, the government will also conduct vaccinations against cervical cancer for girls aged eight to twelve, starting in 2015.

Kataike urged the media to support the government in advocating for preventive health, so as to cut down on health expenditure.

She made the remarks while opening the third annual health journalism convention organised by the Health Journalists Network Uganda at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.

The three-day convention is running under the theme: “promoting preventive health”.

It aims at improving health reporting, engaging journalists, researchers and experts on health issues, as well as collecting information on preventive health.

Kataike said the health ministry is aware that 80% of the diseases in Uganda are preventable, but little is being done to prevent them.She said globally, focus has been on preventive care as a key to improving health and making health expenditure cost effective.

Kataike said the government, will also implement policies like mandatory testing and counselling for HIV as well as eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Dr. Margaret Mungherera, the president of the Uganda and World Medical Association, said the government needs to walk the talk.

She said if the Ministry of Finance fails to allocate money for sanitation to the education and health ministries, they will have let down preventive care.

“The number of people acquiring communicable diseases is reducing, but not fast enough. Non-communicable diseases are on the increase, due to poor lifestyles,” Mungherera said.

“The Government has allocated zero percent to sanitation, but is, at the same time, talking of preventive health promotion,” she said.

Mungherera called upon journalists to help expose and deny quack medical practitioners audience because they compromise the effort of preventive care.

She said of the 6,000 doctors in Uganda, only 3,500 have renewed their practicing license, meaning that 2,500 doctors are working illegally.

A major campaign to crackdown on counterfeit drugs throughout the country has come into force by the Liberia Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA).

The LMHRA has intensified its campaign to eliminate counterfeit drugs from medicine stores throughout the country under new initiative codenamed “Accredited Medicine Store (AMS) Program.

The AMS is a process of accreditation through registration, training of medicine stores owners/dispensers in proper medicines, dispensing, business and financial management and good customer services, as well as upgrading the premises to meet the required standards.

Performing in close collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Board of Liberia and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the LMHRA recently launched the AMS campaign, aimed at improving sanitary conditions of community dwellers, as well as ensuring full monitoring and evaluation of drugs sold in various medicine stores/pharmacies across Liberia.

In order to declare a medicine store AMS-qualified, the LMHRA explained that such medicine store(s) must have passed a drug evaluating laboratory test, clearly determining the quality and standard of medicines being sold in those particular drug stores.

“Our main objective today is to inform you – thepress and the general public – ofour effort to improve and sanitise the retail medicine distribution system in Liberia and also to inform you of the official launch of the Accredited Medicine Stores program in Liberia,” explained Mr. David Sumo, managing director, Liberia Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Authority.

“It is common in Liberia for our people to buy medicines in the streets, on the market tables, in open buckets from street vendors or from unregistered medicine stores and pharmacies,” Sumo lamented, and warned:

“This has been a cause of serious harm to health, and sometimes deaths, among our people, creating undue pressure to the healthcare delivery system of the country, as most of the medicines acquired from these sources are either fake or poor quality.”

As a consequence of the negative impact created by the sale of illicit drugs in some medicine stores, Mr. Sumo further warned that the new initiative also aims at revoking certificates of counterfeit medicine stores.

He said such drastic actions would be taken, especially in the case where the LMHRA discovers that a particular medicine store is deliberately selling fake drugs having inherent danger to the community.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sumo said efforts were underway to certify some 100 medicine stores that have met the LMHRA’s regulations and standards, and urged would-be violators to beware the consequences of abusing the AMS’ new guidelines.

Introduction:

The late 20^th century and most especially the dawn of 21^st century, the century born by technological innovations amidst technological fears such as “the millennium time bomb is real”, were the periods hit by well enlightened campaigns on the usefulness of computer technology in human life.

I could pretty well remember that I was in the last two years of my high school education and we had to write many assignments, essays and represent the school in competitions, all not un-related to the significance of the computer in all endeavors of life.

But in the first decade of the 20^th century, technological advancements peaked into – but not fully – the 75^th percentile of achievement and impact anyone could think of. In pharmacy, there have been silent improvements that have now almost swept the profession into the digital world and rapidly phasing out our traditional way of doing things.

Portfolio of Achievements:

Pharmaceutical services in the era of IT centre on using devices to simplify activities. These operations enhance efficient services, cut cost and give pharmacy a modern outlook. The fundamental is the application of computer software/programmes in the execution of these services.

Some years before now, we all yelled the birth of computer programmes that are in place to manage stock level, i.e. the programmes enabled with functions that enter the procured stock, amount given for a requisition and a calculator that will automatically compute the remaining stock after the orders/requisitions have been given out. But now, pharmacies in the developed countries integrate their stock with RFID technology, coupled with a powerful database to manage the supply chain/expiry/product availability and most importantly to ensure that the drug is authentic. This approach would both cut costs and add to the differentiation of the pharmacy chain brand.

Again another innovation that littered the pharmacy technological landscape some years before now was the idea of online pharmacies which now has been squarely explored in the developed countries.

In the industrial sector, though new machines introduced were rarely a thrill, the most of all is now the automated or robot-operated industrial processes that have to gradually phase out the era of machines being regulated by humans at many points in the manufacturing procedure.

Education in pharmacy has also witnessed radiance of technological simplicity: the internet for research, video conference for distance learning, etc.

The Era of Telepresence:

Notwithstanding all the achievements recorded in the pharmaceutical and other endeavors of life, every day new ideas come to rule the world. The fashion of telepresence has now come to find many applications in the pharmaceutical world. Telepresence is the virtual presence of somebody whose actions are transmitted by electronic signals to physically remote sites.

Telepresence is a higher technology of video conference. It gives a physical and nearly 3D picture of somebody in a location he is not actually in but which does not equal to his real presence.

Pharmaceutical companies can use it for presentations of new products. The education sector can use it for paper presentations by somebody who is away. It can also promote the erstwhile traditional continuing education programmes.

However, as with any advancement, there comes with it a greater cost. So also the technology of telepresence which may require many devices that will come with higher cost. That notwithstanding, the application of telepresence will definitely strengthen communication and enhance information dissemination, promotion of products and participation in gatherings of particular interests.

As part of its sustained awareness campaign, the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA) has announced that Nigeria records 281,000 new infections of HIV/AIDS every year.

Prof. John Idoko, NACA’s director-general, made this revelation during the zonal consultations on ownership for sustainable HIV response held recently in Abuja.

According to Idoko, only 400,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are receiving drugs, out of about 3 million people currently infected, while about 1.5 million people are expected to be on anti-retroviral drugs.

In spite of the odds, the NACA director-general was quite optimistic and expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the fight against the disease.

In his earlier address at the meeting, the professor categorically said that the irregularity in funding the NACA by donor agencies was because of the global meltdown in the past three years.

“We have seen a very significant progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Nigeria – more than 25 per cent HIV decline between 2001 and 2009. However, we still have very significant gaps.”

“Nigeria has the largest burden of transmission of mother child of HIV in the world – 30 per cent with about 70,000 children born every year with HIV. These children hardly live to see their third birthday, without treatment,” he said.

He however warned that a lot still needs to be accomplished in order to ensure a future free of HIV/AIDS.

“If we are to transform the landscape of AIDS, it must remain high on the national and global agenda. We must move to a response that is long-term and sustainable – onethat makes full use of the knowledge and resources developed over the past three decades, yet continues and responds to a changing world that is constantly influencing the future of AIDS,” he remarked.

While expressing his appreciation, the NACA boss further urged donor agencies to ensure regular funding of the agency, saying over 80 percent of their finance comes from them.

Prior to the Zonal Consultation meeting, it would be recalled that NACA carried out several enlightenment campaigns to dissuade youths on partaking in activities that can put them at risk during the valentine period (February 14).

Idoko appealed to media organisations to use the opportunity to relay positive messages about the celebration of the day. He also urged people to avoid what would impair their sense of judgment, to keep away from risky behaviour.

According to him, the day is supposed to be a demonstration of love and gratitude to important people in one’s life by giving gifts.

He called on the government to find ways to provide more social infrastructure that would engage the young minds and keep them busy.

“More recreation parks, sports arena, museums, tourist sites must be developed, this will provide venues for young men and women to visit, instead of engaging in risky behaviour.’’

Idoko said it was important to note that sex was worth waiting for and that it was wrong to think that having it was a sign of love.

“It is never a sign that can tell if someone loves you or not; young people should strive to protect their self-esteem and wait until they are married.

“Boyfriends and girlfriends should engage in meaningful activities that can provide not just fun, but education and information, such as exchanging fictional and educational books.

“Visiting of recreational parks, zoos, and tourist sites, and even visiting orphanages, are all activitieswhich young ones should indulge in. This will make them appreciate life better, protect and utilise the opportunity God has given them for a chance in life. ’’

Patients are being put at risk, as exhausted junior doctors work for 100 hours a week, a new report suggests.

Many training doctors are ‘tired and stressed’ because of shift patterns which flout European laws on working hours, according to the General Medical Council (GMC).

Some of the 55,000 junior doctors are working double the legal limit of 48 hours a week.

“There are still long shifts, and long weeks, with many indicating they could still work up to 100 hours in a single week, and runs of 12 days at work – includingsome 13 hour shifts – not being unusual,” the report stated.

While some of the junior doctors questioned by Durham University researchers said that the regulations had led to fewer working hours, the rules had produced more shift work – leavingsome medics suffering fatigue.

Researchers, who interviewed 82 training doctors from across the UK about their working habits, suggest that many hospitals are relying on doctors in training to provide care and treatment, without adequate supervision from senior colleagues.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “It is clear the current system is not working as it should – insome cases, doctors are still too tired and there are issues around continuity and training opportunities.

“We must never go back to the ridiculous hours worked in the past, when patients were routinely put at risk by exhausted young doctors, but the current system is too complex and the way it is implemented far from satisfactory.”

Dr Ben Molyneux, chair of the British Medical Association’s junior doctor committee, added: “Badly designed, understaffed rotas can leave junior doctors doing long stretches of night shifts, with fewer training opportunities.

“There is clear evidence that tired people are more likely to make mistakes and so it is essential that this problem is addressed.The solution does not lie in increasing working hours.There is clear evidence that long working hours increas the potential for doctors to make mistakes.”

He added that the union was in ‘exploratory talks’ with the NHS Employers organisation about junior doctors’ terms and conditions.

Dean Royles, director of NHS Employers, said: “Excessive working hours are detrimental to doctors and affect the quality of the care they give, so it’s important we work together to produce an outcome that enables them to work efficiently and to the best of their ability.

“Improvements to the junior doctors’ contract, in particular, could greatly benefit both staff and their patients.

“The services the NHS provides and the way it provides them have changed significantly since the contract was initially drawn and as a result, it is no longer fit for purpose.

“A renegotiated junior doctors’ contract could simplify processes, increase the focus on patients, enhance training opportunities and achieve less rigid shift patterns.”

Culled from dailymail.co.uk/health

For Christian pharmacists across the country to enjoy the fulfilment of the prophetic declaration for 2013, as “the year of enlargement”, the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship of Nigeria (CPFN) has said discovering the secrets for enlargement, and abiding by them is key.

Speaking at the February breakfast meeting held in Lagos, Pharm. Umanze Cornelius, who spoke on the topic “Kingdom secrets for enlargement”, stated that man originally was created by God to live a prosperous life, but this was cut short, as a result of the sin committed in the Garden of Eden, as seen in the holy writ,Genesis 2:7-15.

He further explained that enlargement therefore will mean a return journey, a reversal or repentance, and turning from sin to live the way God wants man to live. “All that have been prescribed in the Bible as the way and manner the Christian should live constitute the kingdom secrets for enlargement.”

Umanze, who is the AGM Research and Development, Alpha Pharmacy, urged all Christian pharmacists to locate their positions in Christ and return to the author of success, for them to achieve real success in all their endeavours.

According to him, secret one is for pharmacists to live in conformity with the word of God and contrary to the corrupt systems of the world, adding that they should not be Sunday Sunday Christians, but they should be Christians indeed (Rom.12:2).

The second kingdom principle is the establishment of the kingdom of God, here on earth, through the preaching of the gospel, and helping the poor.

He listed secrets four and five as asking for enlargement, and service to God. On asking for enlargement, he cited the case of Jabez in 1 Chronicle 4:10, how Jabez prayed to God to enlarge his coast, and change his circumstances, and God answered his prayers.

He also admonished pharmacists to create time out of their schedule, to render acceptable service to God, stating that it has eternal rewards, hereafter.

Umanze further called on Christian pharmacists to lend to the Lord, by assisting the needy in the society, because, “whoever lends to the poor, lends to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17).

Having highlighted the principles to kingdom enlargement, he stressed the need for pharmacists to be obedient to the totality of the word of God, stating that there are innumerable blessings accruable from this simple act of obedience to God and his word.

He however frowned at laziness as an attitude, stating that no pharmacist must give laziness a chance in his or her life, because laziness is a curse. Rather, he encouraged them to embrace diligence at work and in all their endeavours, because the hand of the diligent makes him rich.

Pharm (Mrs) Rachael Odesanya, ALPs national PRO, has advised all lady pharmacists to be more Internet compliant, in order for them to be abreast of new developments in the profession, both in Nigeria and outside the country.

Odesanya, who spoke with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview, is also the chief pharmacist and the co-ordinator of the Pharmacovigilance Centre in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).

She said ALPs recognised the need for members to be Internet compliant a few years back, and conducted IT training for them, which included the use of Internet in Enugu. “However it appears that some are still lacking this skill, that is why I am urging those concerned to seek opportunity to improve themselves in this 21^st century”.

The PRO, who hinted on the activities of ALPs, said the goal of the group for 2013 is for the current executive members to hand over to the newly elected officials, and preparations are on going to make it successful.

These and many more were her submissions. Below is the full text of the interview:

Could you tell us about yourself, background and past offices held?

I am a graduate of pharmacy from the University of Jos and a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. I hold a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. I work as a chief pharmacist and the co-ordinator of the Pharmacovigilance Centre in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). I enjoy giving lectures and helping people. I am an ordained elder in Elshaddai Covenant Ministries.  I am a recipient of several awards, both at the national and local levels. I am married to Pharm. Olakunle Odesanya and we are blessed with three lovely children.

Background: I am Igala by tribe from Kogi State and born to Hon. Daniel and Grace Ogbadu.

Past offices: I held the following offices at both the state and national levels from 1995 till date: PRO, Secretary, Ex-officio member (ALSP Plateau State at various times before joining the national executive). National offices: Internal auditor and currently the National PRO (second tenure).

As the PRO of ALPs, how would you describe ALPs performance at the just concluded PSN conference in Abeokuta?

ALPs performance at the just concluded PSN conference in Abeokuta was very impressive. ALPs was well represented at the conference and in fact, the Ogun State chapter of ALPs was fully on ground, to ensure the success of the conference. ALPs was also part of the conference planning committee and gave her full support to PSN. So, we did well. Up ALPs!

Could you tell us about the goals of the group for the year 2013?

Our goal for 2013 is mainly for the current executive members to hand over to new elected officials and we plan to make it successful. We have put structures in place, like the creation of ALPs website, and we want the new exco to continue to build on the current achievements. We also want to consolidate on our various state projects, like the girl-child training, and building of a quality control laboratory.

And what are the means to achieve these goals?

Through conferences, meetings, outreaches, workshops, advocacy and collaboration with other women groups and PSN.

It was in the news recently that women are lagging behind in the use of Internet. What programmes do you think can boost the Internet usage of your members?

ALPs recognised this a few years ago and conducted training in IT, including the use of Internet in Enugu for her members. Programmes which will enlighten women on the importance of Internet use, as well as the provision of Internet facilities not too far from the homes and offices will help. Women can be encouraged to download applications into their cell phones and subscribe to Internet facilities, to enable them browse right from their sitting rooms and kitchens.

As women, do you think your members can do well on plant research to the benefits of their patients?

Oh yes! Plant research is a major programme of ALPs for some years now and our technical adviser is the current director of the Nigerian Medicinal Plants Development Company, in the person of Pharm. Hajia Zainab Shariff. Medicinal plants were our focus at the 2009 conference held in Abuja, with the theme: Cultivation of medicinal plants for nutritional, health and economic empowerment of women. We discussed how these plants can benefit our patients and ALPs has researched into medicinal plants and identified where they can be grown in Nigeria. We have produced the Nigerian Medicinal Plant Compendium and it is currently on sale. This is because ALPs is in the forefront of promoting Nigerian medicinal plants.

What are the challenges of ALPs nationally, and how could these be resolved?

Our major challenge in ALPs national is the need to involve all members. Since the birth of ALPs in 1986 by three great mentors namely: Pharm. (Mrs) Amoni E. Pepple, Pharm. (Mrs) Adeline Wariso and Pharm. (Mrs) Ngozi Dolly Onugha (all FPSN), ALPs has grown and achieved quite a lot over the years, but would have done more if we have more passionate members who can cover lots of ground, if they are available to ALPs.

In addition, finance is a big challenge to ALPs national, and most of our laudable projects are stunted, due to lack of funds.

What is your advice to all pharmacists across the nation?

I encourage all pharmacists in Nigeria to be passionate about the profession. We should see it above every individual pharmacist, so that we can have a say in the scheme of things. We need to come together, rather than pull each other down; so that we can achieve great things for our profession, thereby making everyone proud to be a pharmacist in Nigeria. Do not give up on personal development!

In this edition of viewpoint, our reporter, Oladejo Adebayo went to town to get the reactions of Nigerians towards the practice of hawking and buying of drugs inside buses. Their diverse reactions are presented below.

Drugs should not be bought anyhow

I would not buy drugs in a bus for any reason because most of those drugs you see people selling inside buses are either fake or expired drugs. A lot of people who sell those drugs are charlatans, who have no knowledge about drugs and who are not trained to handle drugs. Most times, these people would change the expiry date of a drug, so that they could sell it to people and make money. I would prefer to buy my drugs from a registered pharmacy shop, so that if anything goes wrong, I could quickly go back to complain and I would know whom to hold responsible.

Meanwhile, I would advise those who still patronises these charlatans to desist from it, as it is too dangerous for their health. Why would they endanger their own lives, in the name of buying cheap things? Drugs are too dangerous to be bought anywhere and anyhow.

Tosin Oyewole

Staff, Newton Pharmacy

Iyana-Oba, Lagos

A reasonable person should know better

Drugs are not meant to be taken at will and also not to be bought anyhow, rather they should be prescribed by a doctor, and should be dispensed by a pharmacist or chemist, who knows the intricacies of drugs. If you take or buy drugs by yourself, without the directive of medical personnel, it could lead to breakdown of certain things in the body, or complications, and it could also lead to sudden death. So, a reasonable person should know that majority of those who sell drugs in buses are not trained medical practitioners, but traders who are concerned about their pocket and how to make ends meet.

However, some of the major reasons why some people fall prey to these people are as a result of ignorance, illiteracy and poverty, so those in the health sector should help enlighten people more on the dangers inherent in buying drugs from unregistered persons or premises, and by so doing, our health status would be better for it.

Pastor Femi Oni

College Road, Ifako Lagos

Those who patronises them are gullible!

A lot of people in this country are too gullible and as such, they are ready to buy anything, provided it is cheap. As far as I am concerned, cheap things kill faster than even a bullet, and I see no reason why a right thinking person, who values his or her life, would buy a malaria drug that is worth one thousand naira at a chemist shop at the rate of two hundred naira in a bus, and still go ahead to use the drug. I wonder how, on earth, would anyone expect the drug they sell at give away prices to do the same thing as those they sell at higher prices in pharmacy shops.

Meanwhile, it is worrisome that a lot of people, even the so called educated and the enlightened, patronise these charlatans, who sell drugs in buses. I think our government needs to do more in this aspect of fake and adulterated drugs. They should empower the agencies like NAFDAC, PSN and others to arrest and prosecute these charlatans.

Jumoke Ogunyemi

Idi Osan, Agbado

Lagos State

I would look at it, but I won’t buy

As for me, I would listen attentively to whatever they say about those drugs they sell in the bus, but nothing on this earth would make me patronise them. Most times, I do collect the pack of the drug from them, in order to see its features and some other things, but rather than buying it from them, I would prefer to go to my pharmacist, where I could make enquiries and seek advice on the drug. I have observed that over ninety nine percent of those who sell drugs in buses are either quacks or are not trained to handle drugs.

Meanwhile, those who buy these drugs do so because those drugs are extremely cheap. They have forgotten that their lives are more precious than the little money they are trying to save. So, as far as I am concerned, if a particular drug could not be found anywhere, except in a bus, I would rather forget about buying the drug.

Michael Nicholas

Ndike, Obawole

Lagos State

What is wrong with it?

What is the big deal in buying drugs inside a bus? Those who sell the drugs are human beings, just like you and I, and they are even well known among the commercial bus drivers and traders, and as such, they have no hiding place and one can easily trace them and lodge complaints, if anything goes wrong. To be sincere with ourselves, how many pharmacy shops in Nigeria would you get to that you would be attended to by a pharmacist? Most of them would open a pharmacy shop and put one of their brothers or sisters there to attend to people, while the owner would take another job with either government or private establishments.

So, when you look at it, it is like a case of calling a dog a bad name, in order to hang it. If a drug has not expired and the person selling it in a bus is not a ghost, why can’t I patronise them? What is the difference between those who sell drugs in buses and pharmacy shops, where a boy or girl of fifteen to twenty years old would attend to you? I am not saying there are no bad eggs among those who sell drugs in buses, just like we have among those who sell inside shops, but when one knows what he or she is buying, there is the tendency that one would not make the wrong choice.

Amusan Tolulope

Ijebu Ode

Ogun State

Pharm. (Mrs) Ibidun Dokubo is the Rivers State chairman of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs). In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, she hinted that the association would love it if PSN, at the state level, could introduce innovative programmes for the development of the members.

Dokubo, who lamented the poor participation of members at ALPs activities, urged them to turn a new leaf in the New Year, by taking active part in the projects of the body, adding that this will promote the association a great deal.

Asked if her members are lagging behind in the use of the Internet, she said the

use of the Internet is a technological innovation that will enable the prompt delivery of pharmaceutical care and services, so we should embrace it.

These and many more were her submissions. Below is the full text of the interview.

Could you tell us about yourself madam?

My name is Pharm. Ibidun Dokubo. I graduated from Medical Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1985. I had my internship with State Hospital, Adeoyo, Ibadan, in 1986. Presently, I am a student of the West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. I work at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. I am married with children.

What is the objective of Rivers State ALPs for the year 2013?

We have three main objectives; the first is school moral and drug abuse campaign; second is community health education campaign; and lastly, support to schools of the physically challenged.

The school moral campaign will be held in secondary schools in the state. The focus is to educate youths on drug abuse and misuse, safe use of medication, moral values, and civic responsibilities. ALPs Rivers State will also hold programmes among target groups, as market women, old transport workers, and others. All these are geared towards ensuring that the society is adequately equipped with skills to live health promoting life styles.

Safe motherhood project, to address a serious health challenge: Nigeria still battles with high incidence of maternal mortality, infant mortality and low life expectancy. The association will work with clinics that provide antenatal and child care services to educate the women.

How would you assess PSN activities in the State, any achievements, and what are the areas to be improved upon?

The PSN activities in the state have improved and are highly commendable, as meeting attendance of members has increased. The technical groups and ALPs, as interest group, are carried along, to discuss issues and exchange ideas that will improve professional pharmaceutical practices and health care delivery in Nigeria. The activities of the society extend to rural areas, with campaign for more people to have access to safe medicines.

The state government has also recognised the role PSN has been playing, and to commend us, we got a bus for the state branch, and some got government sponsorship of pharmacists to FIP in 2012.

There is the need to encourage participation of more members at meetings and activities in the state and national conferences. Innovative programmes should be introduced, such programmes that the members cannot wave aside for their development

Is ALPs, as an interest group of PSN, living up to the objectives of its establishment in the state?

Oh yes, we still have a lot to do. We have regular monthly meetings; hold lectures in secondary schools on drug abuse / drug misuse, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and pharmacy, as a career.

We paid visits to market places, churches and other organisations, to give lectures.

We also visited compassionate homes and children’s homes (i.e. motherless babies’ homes and homes for the elderly) to donate drugs, toiletries, food items, and collaborate with our governor’s wife’s programme – Adopt a child initiative. We have adopted children.

It was stated in a report that women are lagging behind in the use of the Internet. Considering ALPs, as a women group, is this statement true about your members, and what are they doing to improve on themselves?

The use of the Internet is a technological innovation that will enable the prompt delivery of pharmaceutical care and services, so we should embrace it.

What are the challenges of the group, and how could they be resolved?

The attendance at meetings is low and there is a lukewarm attitude towards activities; lack of cooperation from some members. If a large number of us come out for these activities, the association will move forward, in all ramifications.

What is your advice to all pharmacists, and much more, to lady pharmacists?

All pharmacists – young and old – should come out to work together, to make a sacrifice for the profession, to add value to the world.

Pharm. Nnodum Iheme is the president of Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA). In this interview with Pharmanews, during the 85th PSN national conference held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, last November, he spoke on the activities of the association, and the long term plan to make NAPPSA an institution that will contribute more to the development of pharmacy in Nigeria.

Below is the full text of the interview:

How much of the objectives you set for NAPPSA at its inception have been achieved?

NAPPSA was formed in 2006.  It was inaugurated during our first conference in 2007.  Our goal then was to bring Nigerian pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists together in the Diaspora and work very closely with the associations and the institutions in Nigeria.

Our plan was to work with associations like the PCN, PSN, NAFDAC and the universities together and be able to bring quality standard to our practice.

We wanted to pull our resources together and be able to tackle some of our problems, particularly in areas such as patient care, pharmacy education, pharmaceutical manufacturing, clinical trials and drug distribution.

Looking at these laudable objectives, how much of it have you achieved so far?

So far we have been able to build relationship and trust.  NAPPSA sponsored about five people to come to this conference to talk about disease management and to talk about bioequivalence and what we really need to be doing. Those are some of the things that we have achieved.

We are now working with NAFDAC and PCN to form a working committee, so that we can share ideas on how to move forward.

Most importantly, we have missions and goals.  We are at the stage where we are implementing most of our plans to achieve our goals.

What are the challenges you think are facing pharmacists in Nigeria that NAPPSA can help in surmounting?

I think the most important thing is that knowledge is power.  With knowledge and information, I think the community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists in Nigeria can do better.  We are even doing exchange programme with ACPN.  Right now, there are memorandums of understanding between different universities, colleges of pharmacies in Nigeria and universities in US.  That is part of what NAPPSA is doing.  Knowledge is so critical.  If we can bring knowledge into the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria, that will really help to move the profession forward.

What are the plans of NAPPSA for the next 5 to 10 years? Where do you hope to see the association in the next 5 to 10 years?

By that time, NAPPSA will be an institution.  All of us will come down here to contribute.  Most importantly, NAPPSA would have ensured that the second generation of Nigerians in the Americas, who have never thought of coming to Nigeria to do anything and are now having a change of mind, and are thinking of coming home to do something, contribute more to this country.

Pharm. Harrison Kofi Abutiate, managing director and CEO, Paracelsus Pharmacy and Marketing Company Ltd, Accra, Ghana, is now the vice president of the World Glaucoma Patient Association (WGPA).

Harry, who took over this position from 1st of January, 2013, is now the only African on the Board of Directors of World Glaucoma Patients Association, an affiliate of the World Glaucoma Association.

Born on 16^th October, 1942 in Biakpa Avatime to Late Oscar Komla Abutiate and Aurelia Ablometi, he attended Biakpa Avatime Primary School, Kpedze Middle School, Amedzofe Middle School (1948-1957), Achimota Secondary School (1958-1962) and KNUST (1963-1969), graduating with a B. Pharm (Hons) degree. He holds a CIM–UK Certificate in Marketing and is a Chartered Marketer–UK.

Employed by Merck Sharp & Dohme International (MSD) as Zone Manager for West  Africa, covering Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia (1969-1978) during which he marketed Chibret (MSD Subsidiary) eye care products, including Ivermectin for treating onchocirchiasis, in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He was promoted and based in Nairobi, Kenya as the MSD Zone Manager for Western, Eastern and Central Africa from 1978 to 1987, and was responsible for Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and The Seychelles.  He returned to Ghana in 1988 and worked for MSD for two more years before retiring.

From 1990 to date, he has worked as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Paracelsus Pharmacy and Marketing Company Ltd, founded with his wife, Elizabeth.  It is a community pharmacy, based in Osu RE Accra, specialising in marketing of various Alcon Pharmaceuticals eye care products, thus extending the variety and range of quality eye care products available to ophthalmologists, optometrists and ophthalmic nurses, as well as giving support and discount on eye medicines to glaucoma patients in Ghana.

He supported Ophthalmological Society of Ghana (OSG), for the past three years, to organise various conferences as a Platinum Sponsor, while helping ophthalmic nurses training school, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the West African Post Graduate College of pharmacists with update lectures on medicines for treating various eye conditions. For the past five years, he has also sponsored Alcon/Paracelsus prize for the best final year student in ophthalmology at the Ghana Medical School.

As National President of Glaucoma Association of Ghana (GAG), a national glaucoma patients support group, from 1990 to date, Harry, as he is affectionately called, has helped organise several glaucoma awareness weeks and eye screening programmes in various parts of Ghana.

Harry, is a Fellow and past President of the Chartered of Marketing Ghana, CIMG (1999-2003); Chairman, Pharmacy Council of Ghana (2005-2007); Fellow of Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana; Board Member, University of Professional Studies (UPSA), formerly IPS (2004 to date); Fellow of the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) by examination; and Chairman of the Ghana Chapter   of WAPCP (2007 to date).

Harry is also the Chairman, Executive Oversight & Avatime Development Committee and was decorated with the highest Award of the Avatime Traditional Council, OSISIBLISI, for professional Excellence in his chosen field and tremendous contribution to the development and upliftment of Avatime Traditional Area, by His Majesty, Osie Adza Tekpor V11, Paramount Chief of Avatime Traditional Area and the people of Avatime, as a worthy son in November, 2010.

Harry is an active member and former Member of Council of Trinity United Church, Legon (1995 to date); as well as Member of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA).

He has written many feature articles on eye care products and has travelled widely, attending conferences on eye care. His hobbies include reading books on eye diseases, (especially Glaucoma), football and boxing.  He is married to Elizabeth and they have three children.

Bradford Pharmaceuticals Limited, a new indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturing company, has debuted with four brands of family health medicines.

The unveiling of the new medicines took place recently at a colourful ceremony held at Lagos Airport Hotel and attended by a good number of health practitioners and some top Lagos State Government officials.

Speaking at the occasion, Hon. Idowu Obasa, chairman of Bradford Pharmaceuticals, said that the core values of the company are: caring, safety and effectiveness and intellectual enquiry (research), adding that these core values have been nurtured and fostered in the new medicines.

He noted that the Bradford brands, three OTCs and one ethical medicine are unique, in some respect, and some of them are even novel.

The Bradford helmsman stated that the company invested in local pharmaceutical manufacturing because of its commitment to social consciousness and responsibility and to make invaluable contributions to industrialisation and help tackle youth unemployment.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturing, Hon. Obasa, stated further will also help curb the incidence of fake and counterfeit medicines coming from outside and help ensure availability of safe and effective medicines for health care delivery, conservation of foreign exchange and utilisation of locally produced raw materials and services.

Speaking on the newly launched products, the Bradford chairman said that the first product, Bradmol Syrup, is a pleasantly flavoured paracetamol syrup, formulated specially to avoid the possibility of the abuse of propylene glycol, glyecerine and analogues.

He noted that Bradford researched into the unfortunate incidents of poisoning involving some brands of paracetamol syrup and baby teething mixture, some years back, and formulated Bradmol Syrup to eliminate the problem.

He said that Bradmol is effective in relieving feverish conditions in children and useful in mitigating fever and pain after immunisation, adding that Bradmol syrup is an effective household paediatric analgesic and antipyretic medicine with high safety index.

The second product, Bradcoff expectorant, the chairman said, is a pleasantly flavoured cough syrup indicated for the treatment of cough and nasal congestion in both children and adults. Speaking about the two other products, Bradferex and Bradferon blood tonics, Hon. Obasa noted that, while Bradferex blood tonic is an iron supplement that provides iron in daily need amount together with folic acid and vitamin B-complex, Bradferon is a prescription only medicine (POM) with a high concentration of iron, adding that his company is introducing the products with the full confidence that anyone who uses them will not hesitate to recommend them to others, because they are top quality products.

Speaking with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview after the launch, Pharm. Anthony C. Obi, the superintendent pharmacist of Bradford, said that the company is in the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector to make positive contributions, both in terms of supplying top quality products and employment opportunities to Nigerians.

He said the company is already planning to establish a standard manufacturing facility to continue manufacturing and producing quality medicines for Nigerians at affordable prices.

Dr. Caleb Ademola Gbiri is a lecturer with University of Lagos College of Medicine and also a Neuro-physiotherapist with the same institution.  In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews in his office recently, he expressed his displeasure towards the unfavourable condition which he said physiotherapists are subjected to in the country.

The university don, who spoke extensively on the importance of a physiotherapist to an hospital, however, lamented that poor conditions of service and bad policies of government were part of the reasons why physiotherapists are few in the country.

Read the details below:

I am Caleb Ademola Gbiri. I am a lecturer with the University of Lagos College of Medicine and I am also a Neuro-physiotherapist.

What is physiotherapy all about?

Physiotherapy is about management of all disease conditions with minimal use of drug.  It also involves preventive mechanism towards preventing disease condition and also rehabilitative and curative.  Some conditions are not curable, but you can improve on the quality of life and functional performance of such an individual, while some are curable. So, physiotherapy moves from preventive to curative and to rehabilitative.  Contrary to so many people’s belief that physiotherapy is all about taking care of injury.  That is partially correct, in the sense that we have an aspect of physiotherapy that deals with muscular skeletal injury and sport injury.  Those sets of people deal in both prevention and rehabilitation of patients after injury.  What they do basically is treat injury as a result of any muscular skeletal accidents.  However, instead of talking about injury, I would rather call it abnormality or pathological persons, in which physiotherapy is involved in restoring the functional performance of an individual who has a deviated functional performance from the norm.

To a lay man, who do we call a physiotherapist?

A physiotherapist is a health care practitioner who treats all disease conditions with minimal use of drug by the use of physical modalities like exercises.  Physiotherapists use a lot of physical modalities and we de-emphasise, as much as possible, the use of drug.  They only use drug where it is highly mandatory and they have a means in which they send the drug into the system, and not orally.  Some people would say physiotherapy is all about bones, while some would say it is about muscle.  It depends on whom they have had contact with, because physiotherapy is a broad spectrum of specialties, which have more sub-specialties within.

Why are physiotherapists very few in the country?

The condition of service is one of the major reasons why physiotherapists are few in this country. You see, health sector is an heterogenous sector and we have discovered that there is more favourable condition and outcome for physiotherapists outside the country than those practicing here.  Nigeria actually produces sizeable numbers of physiotherapists but because of conditions of service like remuneration, work conditions, and of course, for example, we have not seen a physiotherapist becoming a Chief Medical Director of a hospital, but outside the country, those things are obtainable.  Therefore, the practitioners would want to go to where the condition of service is juicier than what we have here. The importance of physiotherapists is less recognised here in Nigeria; meanwhile, they are treated as kings outside the country.

What is the importance of a physiotherapist to a hospital?

I tell you, no hospital can function adequately without a physiotherapist.  I am repeating, no hospital can function adequately without a physiotherapist.  Because you would discover that, in my definition, I said a physiotherapist is involved in all disease conditions, and also in the prevention modem in the health sector.  Take a stroke patient, for example, it is not only giving drugs to a stroke patient that would make him or her to return to the pre-stroke activities.  It involves a neuro-physiotherapist to rehabilitate the person back to normal.  Meanwhile, the drug would only modulate the blood pressure and other parameters.  Every patient that has undergone surgery must have a physiotherapist and therefore, any hospital that is having surgery and does not have a physiotherapist tends to have problems.  We also have obstetrics and gynaecology physiotherapists (O&G), and this set of people are involved with women’s health, from peri-natal period, anti-natal period, delivery period and post-natal period, they are all involved in delivery and post delivery process.  You see a lot of people play down on the significance of physiotherapists, but until a patient is exposed to all the spectrum and utilises them, then, the patient has not being adequately cared for. So, no hospital, including the primary health centres, can function adequately without a physiotherapist.

Compared to what is obtainable in advanced countries, how would you assess physiotherapy practice in Nigeria?

In terms of ability and capability of physiotherapists in Nigeria, they are at par with their counterparts elsewhere, but when it comes to exposure to facilities, remuneration and conditions of service, they are at the lowest spectrum of the ladder, and that is why we see a lot of practitioners emigrating to all those advanced countries, because there are better conditions of service in those places.  So, if we can make it better here also, even if it’s not up to that of those places but a little bit comparable to it, most of these people outside would prefer to stay here, and they would contribute to our health care development.  In Nigeria, our physiotherapy patient ratio is very low, when you compare it with WHO standard. In Nigeria presently, we don’t have up to one thousand physiotherapists practicing in Nigeria effectively, and we have over one hundred and sixty million population.  You can imagine what would happen at the end of the day. There was a time a patient was referred to (OAUTH) Ile-Ife to see a physiotherapist but before he got there, we lost the patient.  We are not having access to what we are supposed to have access to, and the few people that have access to it are not in the country.  Meanwhile, recognition is also another problem, and this recognition falls in different places, on the part of government and on the part of policy makers.  For example, we were talking about health policy and health bill in the National Assembly; you would discover that there has not been any input from physiotherapists into this bill. It is worrisome seeing somebody who is not a physiotherapist deciding what we should be earning, as physiotherapists; this can be very embarrassing. Also, in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), physiotherapists have not been factored into it; and among the just constituted the Board of all Teaching Hospitals and Parastatals, there is no physiotherapist in any.  How would a person who does not know what is happening in a profession decide for that profession? It is impossible.  So, at the end of the day, despite the fact that the health care sector is a heterogeneous sector, we are operating a monogenous focused approach.  In terms of remuneration, a physiotherapist who had been practicing for more than ten years is not earning as much as another health care professional who just graduated two years ago.  How would you think that such a person would be motivated?  The person would rather look for a better option elsewhere by going outside the country. Again, there should be establishment of a directorate for physiotherapy in the ministry of health that would oversee into the running and policy making of physiotherapy service.

How affordable is it to consult a physiotherapist?

I would say that one of the goals of physiotherapy is to make the service affordable and accessible to everybody, irrespective of your cadre.  Therefore, the only problem we are having is awareness, on the part of the populace. A lot of the time, the condition that should go for the physiotherapist would be taken to other practitioners, or even general practice, especially in the private hospitals; their referral system is nothing to write home about. They hardly refer and they like to optimise the income and so they won’t involve professionals to manage specific conditions, and at the end of the day, they complicate the problem of the patient.

The President of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Osahon Enabulele, recently proposed life imprisonment for quacks, as a means of stamping out quackery in the medical profession.

Enabulele made the call when he spoke in Abuja, where he also said the issue of quackery was a challenge facing the NMA and particularly the growth of health care practice in the country.

He advised governments at all levels to take the issue of quackery very seriously and responsibly, saying it was endangering the lives of Nigerians. He also urged Nigerians to work closely with the NMA, in its bid to put an end to quackery.

“With respect to the issue of quackery, the NMA, more than any other organisation, has been challenging the people of Nigeria to partner with her, to ensure that issues of quackery are seen as things consigned to the dustbin of the history of Nigeria.

“In 2012, for the first time in recent times, a professional organisation like the NMA disciplined its own member and made it known to the public, as a way of letting the public know that we can no longer do things the old ways. We call for things like life imprisonment for quacks, because they are doing untold harm and damage to the people of Nigeria,” he said.

A nongovernmental organisation, Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, CRUDAN, South West, has decried the worsening state of child and maternal mortality rate in the country.

In a paper titled, “Commitment to family planning/childbirth spacing for healthy families and national development”, the group’s South West coordinator, Adesina Adeduntan, said CRUDAN’s worry emanated from various findings it gathered from programmes it organised with civil society and community based organisations.

“Recent data reflect the poor state of maternal and child health in the country, as they show that Nigeria is losing women and children, as a result of high risk pregnancies (pregnancies below age 18 years, above age 34 years, birth interval of less than 24 months apart and birth order of 5 and above),” the statement reads.

Citing United Nations estimate of year 2000, CRUDAN noted that about 52,000 Nigerian women still die every year, as a result of pregnancy, delivery or post delivery complications, while out of every 1,000 live births, 201 children die before they attain the age of 5 years.
The group further noted that, if the worsening trend is to be mitigated, there must be a commitment to increase the use of family planning, child birth spacing methods (CBS contraceptives and natural).

“Evidence abounds that family planning/child birth spacing, will reduce 88,400 of the current 340,000 infant deaths annually, if women in any risk category avoid pregnancy. Also, the lives of about 13,000 women, who die annually as a result of induced abortion, will be saved, if there is increase in uptake of family planning/child birth spacing, CBS services, among others,” the statement reads.

CRUDAN also urged government at all levels to show more commitments in improving the nation’s health care delivery system through structural and legislative frameworks.

“CRUDAN hereby calls on government at all levels and other relevant stakeholders to: formulate Family Planning/Child Birth Spacing policy, enact laws promoting family planning/child birth spacing issues, create budget lines for family planning/child birth spacing and release allocated funds, promote and strengthen public private partnerships for family planning/child birth spacing programmes, support capacity building of service providers and the provision of equipment and commodities for family planning/child birth spacing, as well as include family planning/child birth spacing services in the National Health Insurance Scheme,” the statement reads.