X-ray: Health sector under Jonathan

On September 18, 2010, while declaring his interest to contest in the presidential primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, President Goodluck Jonathan had said, “Let the word go out that our health sector will receive maximum priority in a new Jonathan administration, a priority that will ensure maximum health care and stop our brain drain.”

If there was a crisis that exposed the soft underbelly of the health sector in Nigeria, it was the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease.

Sedentary lifestyle and prolonged sitting can cause more deaths than Obesity – Study

Prolonged sitting has been associated with higher mortality from all causes, as well as increased incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, even among people who exercise regularly. This is according to a meta-analysis published in the January 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

However, analyzing 47 previous publications showed that the relationship between death from all causes and a sedentary lifestyle is more among people who don’t exercise at all.

"Any hospital where non-doctors skip, doctors must skip" See Full Resolutions Adopted at the Joint Meeting of CMDs and NMA Officials

 

 The following are the resolutions adopted at the joint meeting of CMDs and NMA officials

 

1. The circular on skipping is confirmed, sacrosanct and no other circular has been issued to counter it.

 

2. Any hospital where non-doctors skip, doctors must skip to ensure universal harmony in all hospitals

Delta NUAHP Accuse Perm Sec Of Intimidation

Health professionals in Delta state under the state chapter of the National Union of Allied Health Professionals, NUAHP, has accused the Permanent Secretary of the State Hospital Management Board, HMB, Dr. Caroline Ajuya of intimidation and plot  to undermines their ongoing industrial action.

According to the workers alleged that Dr. Ajuya has perfected plans to thwart the ongoing industrial action of the union in the state which commenced yesterday May 25th, 2015 through moves to hire services of technicians and non-professionals in order to reduce the effort of the striking professionals.

Medical Consultants Threaten Legal Action Over Yayale Ahmed Committee Report

 

The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has threatened legal action against the Federal Government if it fails to release the report of the Presidential Committee of Experts.

 

In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Abuja by its president, Dr Steve Oluwole, and addressed to President Goodluck Jonathan, the association, through its Principal Solicitor and Counsel Jiti Ogunye (Esq.), informed the president that, despite his inauguration of the committee which carried out its assignment within 15 months and submitted its report to him, he (the president) has refused to officially publish the report or implement it’s recommendations.

 

Training resident doctors becoming increasingly challenging – Minister

The Nigerian government has revealed that training of resident doctors had been increasingly challenging due to inadequate funding. The Minister of Health , Dr Khaliru Hassan, made the declaration at the 56th annual general conference of the Nigerian Medical Association in  Ibadan.

He announced the government has lifted embargo on employment of resident doctors to federal tertiary health institutions just as it announced that the residency programme will now be funded through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

Two injured as students protest at LUTH

Pandemonium broke out in the early hours of Sunday, as medical students of the College of Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, CMUL/LUTH, went on rampage to protest the recurrent incidences of robbery attacks and other malicious attacks on the premises.

An eye witness disclosed  that yesterday’s incident was the fourth to be experienced in the last 10 months, and was sparked off in the wee hours following an attack unleashed by unknown persons on some students at one of the mosques located next to the outpatient department.

Your Strike is a Threat to National Security, NMA Tells Allied Health Workers

National President of the NMA, Dr. Kayode Obembe

Rather than thaw, the crisis of confidence between the doctors and their allied health workers’ counterparts grew from bad to worse yesterday as the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), an umbrella body of doctors, expressed its dismay over the ongoing strike by the health workers which began on May 17.

The National President of the NMA, Dr. Kayode Obembe accompanied by national officers of the union and local wings of the body from across some states of the federation said “after a careful appraisal of the renewed disruption of industrial peace in the health sector in recent times, we are saddened as to what the seeming conspiratorial gang-up portends to national security, economy and general well-being.”

Crises’ll Not End in Health Sector. — NMA

 

Worried by the indefinite strike embarked on by Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) in some Federal Government-owned hospitals, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged the government to release the White Paper on the Yayale Ahmed Committee Report in order to ensure industrial harmony in the health sector.

 

National President of the association, Dr Kayode Obembe, disclosed this in Ibadan yesterday while reading to journalists the communique issued at the end of the 55th Annual General Conference/Delegates Meeting, held in Ibadan from May 17 to 24.

 

Health workers’ strike ill-timed – Labour Party

Nigeria’s Labour Party (LP) has described the strike action embarked upon by health workers across Nigeria as ill-timed.

The party condemned the current indefinite strike embarked upon by public health workers under the aegis of Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), thereby crippling activities in government hospitals

30 in 100 adult Nigerians have hypertension

Cardiac expert has raised alarm over the increasing incidences of hypertension among Nigerians saying that 30 out of every 100 adult Nigerians are hypertensive. A renowned cardiologist and President of the Cardiac Society of Nigeria, Dr. Amam Mbakwem in chat said over 30 million adult Nigerians are living with disease and handful of others yet to know their status. Mbakwem who advocated the need for Nigerians to adopt the culture of home monitoring of their blood pressures as part of efforts towards preventing complications arising from the killer disease warned that in most patient hypertension does not give signs or symptoms.

Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu suspends 3 staff

 

The Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, has placed a male nurse on three months suspension for allegedly injecting a patient with unprescribed drugs. The nurse, identified as Alozie Ejimadu, allegedly carried out the act during the March 28 presidential election. Similarly, two other members of staff of the hospital, Ozurumba Anthony and Ihezue Ejike, were equally interdicted for different alleged offences. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/fed-neuropsychiatric-hospital-enugu-suspends-3-staff/#sthash.5XXn18Ps.dpuf

The Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, has placed a male nurse on three months suspension for allegedly injecting a patient with unprescribed drugs. The nurse, identified as Alozie Ejimadu, allegedly carried out the act during the March 28 presidential election. Similarly, two other members of staff of the hospital, Ozurumba Anthony and Ihezue Ejike, were equally interdicted for different alleged offences. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/fed-neuropsychiatric-hospital-enugu-suspends-3-staff/#sthash.5XXn18Ps.dpuf

The Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, has placed a male nurse on three months suspension for allegedly injecting a patient with unprescribed drugs. The nurse, identified as Alozie Ejimadu, allegedly carried out the act during the March 28 presidential election.

Similarly, two other members of staff of the hospital, Ozurumba Anthony and Ihezue Ejike, were equally interdicted for different alleged offences.

Ozurumba was accused of participating in one year National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, without permission. He was also alleged to have earned full salary during the service year.

NSP Announces AGM and Scientific Conference: Confluence 2015

Confluence 2015

The Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (NSP) has announced and release the program of events for its annual general meeting and scientific conference for 2015.

This was released on the official Facebook page of the NSP by the NSP PrTeam.

The conference has been tagged Confluence 2015 will hold in Lokoja, Kogi State between 25th and 31st October 2015.

OPINION: Evidence Based Practice Without the Books? - Kayode Ojetola

 Kayode Ojetola

It is said that a man cannot rise beyond his level of knowledge. The operational impact a man will make rests solely on his level of intellectual and mental development.

The Physiotherapy profession in the country today has evolved and matured over time. Though some people might point out the fact that the profession hasn't gotten to its promised land yet, I would rather dwell on the positives albeit small.

JOHESU FMC Birnin kudu Holds Peaceful Demonstration, Issues One Week Ultimatum

The Joint Health Sector Union at the Federal Medical Center, Birnin Kudu has today organised a peaceful demonstration in the hospital community to press home the following demands: 

- Total degradation of services Lack of water. 

- Lack of consumables despite expensive charges. 

- Non payment of cleaning company and security company. 

- Improper utilization of revolving funds accounts. 

- Non payment of Nov 2014 salary of 26 members of unions despite directives from ministry of health.

Health Workers Begin Indefinite Strike

Health workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) Tuesday embarked on an indefinite national strike over alleged unwillingness by the Federal Government to attend to their demands.

The union had last week threatened industrial action, if the Federal Government fails to honour its demands.

FMC Owerri striking workers refuse call by board to return to work

In a move to return calm to the Federal Medical Center Owerri following the uproar that greeted moves to privatize some sections of the Hospital, the board has suspended it’s decision to privatize some sections of the Hospital. It also called back the queries reportedly served to some members of the staff.

NICAPSG Scientific Conference and General Meeting OAUTHC 2015 Kicks off.

The much awaited, NSP- Cardiopulmonary Specialty Group (NICAPSG )Scientific Conference and General Meeting OAUTHC 2015 Kicks off today in OAUTHC. Below is the Program of events as released by the LOC

Austrian men receive robotic prosthetic hands in world first

 Thanks to bionic reconstruction, the patients are now able to 

pour water from a jug, use a key and chop up food using a knife.

 

Scientists have successfully given three Austrian men mind-controlled robotic prosthetic hands to treat debilitating nerve injuries. The results of these groundbreaking procedures - referred to as "bionic reconstructions" - are published in The Lancet.

The men had been living with injuries to their brachial plexus, a network of nerves that begins in the neck region and connects to the majority of nerves responsible for controlling the movement of the upper limbs. Brachial plexus injuries most commonly occur in high-speed collisions or collision sports such as football or rugby.

Free health care for Yobe bomb survivors

Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, has consoled the families of victims killed during a suicide bomb blast in the state capital.

This past weekend, a female suicide bomber detonated an Improvised Explosives Device (IED) in Damaturu killing several people at the entrance of the city's central motor park.

Physiotherapy as effective as surgery for treating some back pain

Back pain sufferers may find physiotherapy is just as effective as surgery when it comes to deciding upon treatment options, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh.

A two-year study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that physical therapy improved function and relieved pain just as often as surgery for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis, an anatomical impairment common with ageing.

Hailed as the first study to compare surgical and standardised physiotherapy outcomes for the condition, it involved a total of 169 patients aged 50 or over who were already due to have decompression surgery.

Participants were randomly divided into two groups: those who would go ahead with the planned procedure, and those who would instead go through twice-weekly sessions of standardised, evidence-based physical therapy over a six-week period.

Created by pressure on nerve roots caused by a narrowing of the spinal canal, the condition results in pain, numbness and weakness throughout the lower back and extremities. Decompression surgery is the fastest-growing treatment option among older patients.

Despite its surging popularity as a treatment option, researchers found there were no detectable differences between the surgical and physical therapy groups when examined after six months, one year and two years.

Specifically, the trial unturned no noticeable difference in how much the patients' pain abated and the extent to which function was restored in their backs, buttocks and legs.

Principal investigator Anthony Delitto, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at Pitt School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said patients typically do not exhaust all non-surgical options - such as physiotherapy - before consenting to surgery.

Commenting on the study, he explained: "Both groups improved, and they improved to the same degree. Now, embedded in that, there are patients who did well in surgery, and patients who failed in surgery. There are patients who did well in PT, and there are patients who failed with PT. But when we looked across the board at all of those groups, their success and failure rates were about the same."

Written by Angela Newbury

Source - Just Physio

Computer games benefit stroke survivors, improve arm movements

Stroke survivors can have “significant” improvement in arm movements after using the Nintendo Wii as physiotherapy according to researchers.
The popular computer remote could be customised to offer bespoke physiotherapy for stroke survivors in their own home according to research led by Lancaster University.

A preliminary study showed that playing specially adapted Wii games improved the arm movements of stroke patients, with a threefold increase in their ability to pick up and put pegs in holes.
One stroke survivor was even able to lift and drain a cooking pan for the first time since her stroke 11 years before and her hand “wanted to open of its own accord.”

Study demonstrates that pelvic floor muscle training improves erectile function

Preliminary results of a four-month clinical trial offer hope for the thousands of baby boomer men turning 50 every minute, with nearly 6-in-10 of them experiencing erectile dysfunction. Proving pelvic floor exercise can help turn back the clock on sexual decline, the study demonstrates that weighted resistance training improves erectile function in both healthy men and those with erectile dysfunction. The study extends to men the well-known research that Dr. Arnold Kegel conducted with resistance training of the female pelvic muscles.

Altering visual cues can impact chronic neck pain

Using virtual reality to misrepresent how far the neck is turned can actually change pain experiences in individuals who suffer from chronic neck pain, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

It may seem like our experiences of pain stem from some objective, physiological source, but research has shown that many factors -- including sensory, cognitive, and emotional cues -- can have a significant influence on if, when, and how we feel pain. These new results indicate that altering the visual cues that inform the brain about the body can impact pain:

FREE 6 Week Course on Lower Limb Amputee Rehabilitation

 

Starting 1st June  2015  physiospot.com will be running a FREE 6 week course on Lower Limb Amputee Rehabilitation. We are glad to Inform you  Registration is now open!

This course has been developed with and will be run in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who support rehabilitation services for amputees worldwide.  Over six weeks we will cover a wide range of theoretical concepts of amputee rehabilitation that can be applied to clinical practice.

The aim of this course is to:

Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy Cardiopulmonary Specialty Group (NICAPS-G) presents "Advances in Critical Care & Pulmonary Rehabilitation"

Dear colleagues,

We are excited to announce that Ile-Ife, the Cradle of the Yorubas will host the 1st Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy Cardiopulmonary Specialty Group (NICAPS-G) focusing on "Advances in Critical Care & Pulmonary Rehabilitation". The conference will run from Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd May, 2015 at OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, Osun State. The conference provides an exciting and friendly atmosphere for physiotherapists and other experts at all levels of their career to interact and share ideas.

Medical Tribunal Set To Prosecutes Suntai’s Doctor, 13 others

No fewer than 14 medical doctors including the physician to ailing Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State are expected to appear before the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal for various offenses ranging from improper conduct to negligence of duty.

The MDPDT has the status of a High Court because its judgement can be appealed only before the Court of Appeal. They will be arraigned at the sixth sitting of the tribunal taking place at the secretariat of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria in Abuja.

Nigeria Health Workers Set for Nationwide Strike on May 17

Three months after their last nationwide strike which lasted four months, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals again on Tuesday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government to address its demands, failing which it would be left with no option than to commence another round of indefinite strike from May 17.

 The last strike which commenced late 2014 was suspended on February 2, 2015, after a truce was

Implementing Nigeria’s 2014 National Health Act: Avoiding pitfalls and learning lessons from the education sector

Felix Abrahams Obi

11 May 2015

On the 23rd of April 2015, I had the privilege of participating in the first business meeting of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the National Health Act (NHAct), which was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in October 2014. The Act sets out the ideal way the Nigerian health system should be organized and guarantees the free access to a basic package of healthcare to all Nigerians, as well as other critical provisions relating to the quality of services to be provided and the rights and responsibilities of patients and healthcare providers. With the euphoria that heralded the signing of the Health Act now waning, many health experts and public policy analysts agree that the devil is in the detail of the implementation processes.

Tips For Recovery From Shoulder Injury

Lets kick start this blog-site by talking about Shoulder Injuries.

Shoulder injuries can be very restrictive in your day-to-day life, sport- or job performance.

We will share 4 tips for recovery from shoulder injuries:

1. Get in balance. The shoulder joint needs the perfect balance of strength and flexibility to keep it in great shape and injury free. Your physiotherapist can assess your movement and show you how to strengthen the rotator cuff to keep the shoulder positioned optimally in the joint to prevent improper mechanics while moving the arm.

Welcome To NaijaPhysio

Hello World,
Welcome to this new blog. NaijaPhysio.


What is NaijaPhysio about ?
Let us try to do this in a quick way.

First lets break the name down. Naija and Physio.