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May262018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Don’t Demonize JOHESU, Shehu Sani tells FG

Don’t Demonize JOHESU, Shehu Sani tells FG

Latest Health News
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, Senator Shehu Sani has urged the federal governmnet to address the demands of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and not demonize them.  The lawmaker in a tweet,said "The FG should listen to JOHESU and address their grievances and not demonize them.The NMA should offer to mediate and not go against JOHESU.Someday the NMA will need JOHESU.Let the political and business elites end medical tourism and fund and equip our public health sector".
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
JOHESU Strike: Saraki intervenes, meets Adewole, Ngige

JOHESU Strike: Saraki intervenes, meets Adewole, Ngige

NEWS
The Senate has intervened in the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), in a bid to end the strike and make the nation’s hospitals functional once again. The President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, after a meeting with the leadership of JOHESU yesterday (Thursday) where he listened to their grievances and demands, today (Friday) met with the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole and the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, to hear their own side of the issue. While meeting with the JOHESU leadership led by its Chairman, Comrade  Biobelemonye Joseph, the President of the Senate, had pledged that the Senate would ensure that the right thing is done to
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
NMA: JOHESU Locking Up Clinics to Prolong Strike

NMA: JOHESU Locking Up Clinics to Prolong Strike

NEWS
Doctors abandoned to run hospitals in wake of ongoing strike by health workers have accused members of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) of frustrating their attempts to function during the strike. Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) accused JOHESU members of locking up clinical service points and equipment to press home their “spurious” demands. In a statement yesterday, NMA president Francis Faduyile, said allied health workers on strike have resorted to “Undue brigandage and desperate antics in an attempt to prevent our members from offering healthcare services to Nigerians. “They now lock up clinical service points and equipment thereby making it difficult for our members to operate smoothly within the hospital environment, and other disruptive acts including thuggery,” he said. N
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
WHO Stresses Importance of Investing In Health

WHO Stresses Importance of Investing In Health

NEWS
A new WHO report has revealed how the world’s poorest countries can gain $350 bn by scaling up investments in preventing and treating chronic diseases, like heart disease and cancer, that cost an additional $1.27 per person annually. Such actions would save more than eight million lives over the same period. The report, titled Saving Lives, Spending Less: A Strategic Response to Non-communicable Disease, reveals, for the first time, the financing needs and returns on investment of WHO’s cost-effective and feasible “best buy” policies to protect people from non-communicable diseases , the world’s leading causes of ill health and death. It shows that for every $1 invested in scaling up actions to address NCDs in low- and lower-middle-income countries, there will be a return to society of
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Doctors: Two Ebola Patients Attended Church with 50 People before Dying

Doctors: Two Ebola Patients Attended Church with 50 People before Dying

NEWS
Two Democratic Republic of Congo Ebola patients who fled hospital in the city of Mbandaka on Monday attended a prayer meeting with 50 people hours before they died, Jean-Clement Cabrol, an emergency medical coordinator at Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), said on Thursday. Health officials are scrambling to contain an outbreak of the deadly disease in the heavily populated port city in northwest Congo that is believed to have killed 22 people since April. Two new deaths from Ebola and seven new confirmed cases have been recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry said on Tuesday. One of the deaths occurred in the provincial capital of Mbandaka, according to a daily bulletin. A nurse also died in the village of Bikoro, where the outbreak was f...
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
World Medical Association Echo Call for Vigorous Response to New Ebola Outbreak

World Medical Association Echo Call for Vigorous Response to New Ebola Outbreak

NEWS
The World Medical Association has echoed the call from the World Health Organisation for a vigorous response to the latest Ebola outbreak in the Congo, which has so far caused more than 20 deaths. Dr. Ardis Hoven, Chair of the WMA, speaking at a meeting in Geneva on the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, questioned whether the world was prepared for another pandemic like Spanish flu. ‘One hundred years ago the deadly Spanish flu pandemic killed between 50 and 100 million people in a matter of months. It affected 500 million people around the world. Today, how certain are we that we can protect ourselves from another global virus outbreak? In today’s globally connected world, have we seriously prepared for the greater risks we would face from a new deadly virus sweeping the wo
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Lagos Health Commission: Medical Guild Rejects Appointment of Non-Medical Doctors As Consultants

Lagos Health Commission: Medical Guild Rejects Appointment of Non-Medical Doctors As Consultants

NEWS
The Medical Doctors in the employ of Lagos State Government has rejected the appointment of non-medical/dental doctors as consultants in the Lagos Health Commission. The Chairman, Medical Guild, Babajide Kehinde Saheed, made this known on Thursday, during a briefing at the Lagos State Medical Guild Secretariat. This is as a result of the circular released by the Lagos State Government through the office of the Head Service on May 10, 2018. The circulars include the creation of consultant pharmacist cadre in the Scheme of Service and enhancement of career prospect/progression in the State Public Service. However, Dr Saheed said, the circular will cause disorderliness in the health sector. Speaking on the Emergency General Meeting of the Medical Guild held on May 23, 2018, the Chair...
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Medical Doctors Oppose JOHESU’s Call for Removal of Nigerian Health Minister

Medical Doctors Oppose JOHESU’s Call for Removal of Nigerian Health Minister

NEWS
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has opposed the call by the striking health workers under the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) for the removal of Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole. The health workers have been on strike for five weeks, disrupting services in Nigeria’s public hospitals. They called for Mr Adewole’s sack last week, accusing him of bias and supporting medical doctors who are opposed to their demands. But the NMA on Thursday in a statement by its President, Francis Faduyile, described the call as an act of “rascality and disregard” for the office of the Health Minister. “We observe with dismay the maligning of the Honourable Ministers of Health and that of Labour and Productivity by JOHESU, calling them all sorts of uncomplimentary names. “This is an act of rasca
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May252018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Doctors, Pharmacists Disagree On Consultancy Cadre Approval for Health Workers

Doctors, Pharmacists Disagree On Consultancy Cadre Approval for Health Workers

NEWS
*PSN hails Senate for budgeting extra N57.15bn for Basic Healthcare Provision Fund *ACPN demands immediate action on open drug markets, distribution system There appears to be no end in sight to the recent imbroglio between doctors and pharmacists in Nigeria.Pharmacists under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria (PSN) Lagos branch have condemned the doctors’ that is the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) position on the recent Lagos State government circular on consultant pharmacist cadre and demands by striking health workers on relativity of salaries. Health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) have been on industrial action since April 18, 2018 following inability of the Federal Government to meet their demands, which include approval of con
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
#JOHESUStrike2018: NMA Accuses JOHESU Members of Harassing Doctors at OAUTHC

#JOHESUStrike2018: NMA Accuses JOHESU Members of Harassing Doctors at OAUTHC

NEWS
The Nigeria Medial Association (NMA), Osun State branch has accused members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) of harassing medical doctors who were doing their jobs at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State. Addressing a press conference at the NMA Secretariat in Osogbo, the state capital, the Chairman of the association, Dr Tokunbo Olajumoke said the doctors were ready to work and provide proper healthcare services to patients and cautioned the striking JOHESU members to desist from intimidating doctors. Olajumoke said the JOHESU members were violent in the manner they were going about their strike as they were desperate to create the impression that it was impossible for the hospital to exist without them. He lamented that the...
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
#Codeine: Lagos State Targets Mental Health Law, Parenting

#Codeine: Lagos State Targets Mental Health Law, Parenting

NEWS
In order to effectively tackle drug abuse including that of codeine in the country, the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris said the Mental Health Law that would address the menace in Lagos would soon be passed into law. The law, which has gone through the Second Reading was however still in the process of becoming a legal document, said Segun Olulade, chairman of the House Committee in Lagos State House of Assembly, However, while the state is still awaiting the passage of the Bill, Idris has urged parents and guardians to establish close relationship with their children and wards to enable them monitor the children with a view to notice change in their behaviour and attitude. According to Idris, it has become necessary for parents and guardians to uphold uprig...
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Survey Rates Nigeria Health Care Performance Low

Survey Rates Nigeria Health Care Performance Low

NEWS
For Nigerians to enjoy better healthcare delivery, government at all levels have been urged to ensure improved access to facilities at the primary healthcare level by the citizens. A global leader in the health technology, Royal Philips, made the appeal recently in Lagos during the unveiling of a survey, which indicated that 36 per cent of Nigerians believe that their healthcare needs were being met by the current country’s health system. However, the survey, noted that tracking health indicators and wide spread information about health, nutrition and fitness, were key factors that would drive effective healthcare delivery in Nigeria. Submission by over 500 Nigerians interviewed in the survey, indicated “that though 52 per cent Nigerians believe in current healthcare system, only 36
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
Fact Check: Health Minister Quotes Outdated WHO Statistics on Tuberculosis

Fact Check: Health Minister Quotes Outdated WHO Statistics on Tuberculosis

NEWS
A claim made by the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, on tuberculosis infection in Nigeria has been faulted by a nongovernmental organisation that holds public figures accountable. The NGO, Africa Check, in a release on Wednesday, quoted the minister as saying sometime in March that “Nigeria ranks fourth among the 30 highest TB burden countries in the world and first in Africa.” Ehanire, at the commissioning of some projects at the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre, Zaria, Kaduna State in March, had reportedly remarked that there were an estimated 10.4 million cases of TB worldwide, with Nigeria allegedly among the six countries accounting for 60 per cent of new cases globally. The minister was quoted to have said: “TB is today still a serious public heal
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
It’s Very Easy to Hack into Nigerian Banks – Medical Doctor Turned Cyber Criminal

It’s Very Easy to Hack into Nigerian Banks – Medical Doctor Turned Cyber Criminal

NEWS
A hacker, Michael Williams, 28, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly defrauding a car dealer, Abiogun Adewale, of N28m. He was said to have paid the sum for a Porsche car through a fake electronic transfer. The suspect, who was arrested in the Lekki area of Lagos, was paraded at the command headquarters, Ikeja, on Monday by the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi. Imohimi said the police received a petition against the suspect, who he described as a “professional hacker.” He said, “My office received a complaint that there is a syndicate that buys exotic cars and configures a computer programme that sends a fake payment alert to the seller. “The seller, upon receiving this alert, verifies the alert either through ATM or through Internet banking and
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May242018 by PharmaTimesNo Comments
NMA Accuses JOHESU of Sabotage over Lingering Strike

NMA Accuses JOHESU of Sabotage over Lingering Strike

NEWS
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has accused the members of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) of sabotage and fabricating stories making outrageous demands from the Federal Government. The NMA is blaming the JOHESU on why the industrial action embarked upon has continued to linger on. According to the NMA, the strike situation has affected health services in some government hospitals across the country. At this news conference in Abuja, members of the NMA described the industrial action as an act targeted at them. The association insisted that the crux of the matter is agitations for equal pay with the medical doctors, an allegation that JOHESU leadership denies. The striking health workers resumed negotiations with the Federal Government on Tuesday behind closed doors. How...
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