…Restates commitment to Nigerians health
As part of activities marking its 80th anniversary, Nigeria foremost pharmaceutical company, May & Baker PLC on Thursday staged hypertension awareness walk, where it sensitized people on hypertension and also screened many people to know their blood pressure status.
The walk coverage on Thursday started from May & Baker Office at Sapara William Street to Oba Akran along Mobil Roundabout to Moshalasi Alhaja, which was the first stop point, where people were screened.
From there, the walk moved to Pen Cinema, Agege under Bridge, which was the second stop point, where many people were also screened. From Pen Cinema, the walk continued through Oba Ogunji Road to Akilo Spare Parts Shops Lane and back, through Mobil, to the May & Baker office at Sapara Williams Street.
According to the Managing Director of the company, Pharm. Patrick Ajah, although May & Baker usually observe the walk for life/hypertension awareness walk during world hypertension day, the company decided to embark on it on Thursday as part of the activities to mark its 80th anniversary so as to give back to the society.
He said the walk for life is just part of May & Baker’s commitment to making an indelible impact in the health sector. “Within the journey of 80 years, May and Baker has done many things concerning the health of Nigerians. We have been involved in vaccine management, where we are involved in joint ventures with vaccine manufacturers. For instance, May & Baker was the representative of Aventis at a time in Nigeria.
“In the area of antimalarial, May & Baker has done a lot, May & baker paracetamol is a household name even if you go to a remote part of the country, people talk about M&B. Also in the area of hypertension, we have done a lot. So, May & Baker has been actively involved and committed to management of the health of Nigerians”.
According to Pharm. Ajah, among the diseases that can lead to sudden death, hypertension is one of the most deadly, but unfortunately, many people are walking on the street without knowing their status. He noted that it is easy to do blood pressure tests because one doesn’t need to go to the laboratory or do blood sample tests.
In view of the deadly nature of hypertension, popularly called silent killer, Pharm. Ajah urges Nigerians to know their family history, go for checks regularly and also be careful with what they eat.
He specifically called on Nigerians to be careful of the diseases he referred to as “dangerous alliance”, which is hypertension and diabetes. He said if somebody is diabetic, it makes a lot of sense and safer for such a person to be checking his or her blood pressure regularly.
“More importantly now, people should know their sugar level. If somebody is diabetic, he should be watching his blood pressure and this is because if someone is diabetic and hypertensive, such a person is prone to sudden death, when the condition is not properly managed. We used to call it a dangerous alliance. So people need to go for test”, Pharm. Ajah said.
In view of the recurrent sudden death in the country, he emphasised that there is a need for every Nigerian to check their blood pressure to know their health status. “People should try as much as possible to visit the hospital for medical checkup at least twice in a year”, Pharm Ajah said.
While giving an overview of what the company aims to achieve in the near future, the managing director said “after the 80th anniversary, in the next 10 or 20 years, I can assure you that May & Baker is going to be better than what you have seen now. We’re going to get bigger. We are not in the place where we should be. We are the first in the country, and so, we should be the first in all respects.
“We are not playing with quality. We are also going to be expanding. We are on a drive for expansion. In the last three years, we have doubled our capacity. In the next three to five years, we are going to double again. May & Baker is on a growth trajectory. We are also going to increase our capacity in the area of production of other medicine. We are not relenting. By the time we are 100 years old, it is going to be fantastic,” he assured.
