03122019 - Ganduje sends bill for 4 new Kano emirates afresh

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2019
*L-R:: Pharm Nnamdi Okafor, Managing Director, May&Baker Nigeria Plc, Pharm Folake Odediran, General
Manager/ Country Chair, Sanofi Nigeria Ghana, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, President, Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria, [PSN], and Dr Monica Eimunjeze, Director, Registration&Regulatory Affairs Directorate, NAFDAC, during
the Formal Signing of Local Manufacturing Contract Medicine in Nigeria, between Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Limited
and May&Baker Nigeria Plc, last week in Lagos PHOTO; Kehinde Gbadamosi
WAHO strengthens capacity for accurate lab diagnosis
By Chioma Obinna
WORRIED about the
rate
of
misdiagnosis and poor
detection of infectious
diseases across the West
African region, the West
African Health
Organisation, WAHO, is
currently building the
capacity of medical
laboratory professionals
in the region to ensure
correct diagnosis as one
of the fundamental
principles of healthcare.
The project was part of
strategies to ensure that
laboratory systems are
improved in the 15
ECOWAS countries as
well as ensuring the
countries have effective
and accredited
laboratories across the
region by 2021".
At a five -day Laboratory
Mentorship and
Coaching Training
Workshop for Medical
Laboratory Professionals
in ECOWAS member
countries, held in Lagos,
the Programme Officer of
Region Wide Laboratory
Services, for WAHO,
Abdulrahaaman Sow
explained that the
objective was to provide
them with all the skills
and competence to
improve the health system
in the region.
He said WAHO has
established a regional
programme for
accreditation of
laboratories from the 15
countries of ECOWAS
and trained 24 mentors
from the 15 countries of
ECOWAS for onward
cascading the training to
different levels in their
countries.
"If we have good
laboratories, we can detect
very rapidly epidemic
prone diseases and we
can put in place some
strategies to control those
epidemics and also
prevent them."
Other objectives of the
training he listed include;
providing participants
with knowledge and skills
on the requirements of
ISO standards (ISO
15189: 2012 and ISO
90001:2015), strengthen
national and regional
capacities to improve
medical laboratory quality
systems among others.
Speaking, the State
Commissioner for Health,
Prof Akin Abayomi who
noted that a doctor or a
healthcare provider was
dependent on diagnostic
capabilities of the
environment to make
correct diagnosis and
also based on the direct
You can't just set
up your laboratory
and start pushing
out results. You
have to meet
certain very strict
criteria which are
set by international
bodies like the
WHO
diagnosis to give the
correct treatment.
Abayomi said: "WAHO
is ensuring that all our
laboratories go through
the process of
accreditation and these
coaches and mentors that
they have trained can go
back to their respective
institutions and fast track
the process of acquiring
an accreditation.
"What we have done in
the last five days was to
promote the use of
laboratories, ensure the
results that are coming
Sanofi, May & Baker sign pact
for local production of safe
medicines
By Chioma Obinna &
Chinelo Azike
In line with the policy
direction by the Federal
Government to ensure
national drug security
through self-sufficiency in
the supply of essential
medicines, two
pharmaceutical giants,
Sanofi and May & Baker
Nigeria. Plc weekend
signed a contract for local
production of Sanofi’s
products in Nigeria by
May & Baker.
Speaking during the
signing ceremony, the
General Manager Rx and
Country Chair, Sanofi
Nigeria – Ghana, Ms
Folake Odediran, said
they understand that local
sourcing of essential
out from the laboratories
are accurate. What we call
quality management and
for us to do that, we need
to go through a process
of accreditation.
There are standards
that laboratories must
utilize. You can't just set
up your laboratory and
start pushing out results.
You have to meet certain
very strict criteria which
are set by international
bodies like the WHO, to
make sure that what you
release from the
laboratory is not only
Hypertension: Expert calls for urgent attention to traffic
lockjams …As LUTH graduates 392 from 8 medical schools
By Chioma Obinna &
Chinelo Azike
renowned
Acardiologist at the
Lagos University
Teaching Hospital, LUTH,
Prof. Janet Ajuluchukwu
has raised the alarm over
increasing incidences of
hypertension in
Nigerians even as she
called for attention on
what she described as
"epidemic of severe,
chronic traffic lock-jams"
that stretch for hours
during intra-city trips.
Delivering a lecture
entitled: "My Heart, Your
Heart, Our Heart", during
LUTH's 2019 graduation
ceremony weekend in
Lagos, Ajuluchukwu said
the current traffic situation
was a definite health
hazard which is
incubating other risk
factors like stasis.
"The resultant
prolonged sitting in
gridlock traffic is already
fueling other risk factors
of different non -
communicable disease,
hypertension makes a
mockery of progressive
knowledge and research
as it is currently " she said.
Throwing light into the
burden of hypertension
in Nigeria, she explained
that the current statistics
makes a mockery of
progressive knowledge
and research as it is
currently the leading
cause of morbidity and
mortality globally
contributing directly or
indirectly 45 percent of all
heart disease deaths in
the African Region, 57
percent of all strokes.
"In mid-1990s, the
Federal Ministry of
Health data on noncommunicable
disease
showed that 8 million
Nigerians aged 15 years
and above have
hypertension, the
previous demographic
prevalence was 9 percent
for rural 11 percent for the
urban population in
Nigeria. There is a need
for new ways of thinking
and tackling
hypertension."
She, urged the
graduands to be LUTH
ambassadors wherever
they go even as she
urged them to continue to
develop professionally.
"Ensure that there is
opportunity and equity
for all others in things
concerning health and
professionalism. For
instance, your Danfo
driver's heart and health
should be your concern.
The Chief Medical
Director, LUTH, Prof
Chris Bode noted that
LUTH has objectives to
teach, patient care and
research pledged that the
management of the
hospital would continue
to ensure that the
standard at LUTH does
not go down. Bode who
was represented by the
By Naomi Uzor
ANTHONY Emerald
Lions clubs has said
that globally, at least 2.2
billion people have vision
impairment or blindness
but that 80 per cent of visual
impairment is avoidable.
At a fundraising and
investiture ceremony of
Lion Adebimpe Bello, Dr.
Abiola Oyeleye said
cataract is the leading
cause of blindness which
is totally reversible but
glaucoma which is the
Chairman, Medical
Advisory Board of LUTH,
Prof Wasiu Adeyemo, said
the 392 graduands were
part of their teaching
responsibility. "Till date,
we have been able to set
up 10 schools. We have
produced manpower for
healthcare. I sincerely
hope they will stay but we
are going to retain some
here. We produce them
every year but
unfortunately only a few
will stay.
second most common cause
of blindness is irreversible.
"In Nigeria, 4.25 million
adults who are 40 years
and above have vision
impairment.
Speaking during her
acceptance speech, Lion
Adebimpe Bello disclosed
that the board of directors
have approved sponsoring
50 Cataract surgeries for
patients identified at their
free screenings in
partnership with various
eye hospitals in Lagos, at
the cost of N50,000 each,
medicines was central to
achieving the
government’s objectives,
and remain committed to
the noble aspiration of
Nigeria’s dream.
“The formal signing of a
manufacturing agreement
with May & Baker is proof
of the commitment to
localisation. We will
continue to contribute our
quota toward the
availability of very
efficacious, high-quality
made-in-Nigeria
medicines.
She said the agreement
would increase availability
and more importantly,
quality. It is critical that we
are producing with our
water, under our
temperature and
environment; that way
quality is monitored and
assured.
Odediran further called
on all stakeholders to
collaborate with
governments to develop a
robust and fully-functional
local drug manufacturing
ecosystem.
Speaking, Managing
Director and Chief
Executive Officer, May &
Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr
Nnamdi Okafor who
expressed joy at the formal
signing of the agreement,
noted that the decision
portends a great
opportunity for the
company and represents a
major achievement in the
national quest to increase
local content and capacity
in the pharmaceutical
sector.
“Today’s contract-signing
will bring so many benefits
to health and the economy.
The benefits include
capacity building,
empowerment, selfreliance.’’
On his part, the
Chairman of the occasion
and also the President,
Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria, PSN, Mazi Sam
Ohuabunwa, said that the
contract-signing was in line
with the mantra of selfsufficiency.
He charged
the companies to target at
least 50 percent local
manufacturing by 2023.
80% of visual impairment avoidable ‘80% of
visual impairment avoidable — Lions Club
adding that, they have also
identified 11 patients for
eye surgery from the St.
Raphael's medical fare.
"We have already done 10
and I encourage everyone
today to choose to sponsor
some or the rest. We also
plan to donate 200 hospital
bed sheets to 3 public
hospitals where patients lay
on bare mattresses and
build, in collaboration with
our community, two
modern toilets with steady
supply of water, among
others.”