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Ebola Watch!: THE LATEST!


Medic-All (31:07:2014)

Some FACTS:
57 more lives claimed, 122 new cases, according to the World Health Organization

Total No. of Infected(Presently) : 1323

Reported cases of death in 4 countries : Guinea(339), Liberia(156), Nigeria(1), Sierra Leone(233).

LATEST NEWS:

Sierra Leone: Death toll increases, Government declares emergency

Sierra Leone and Liberia put sweeping measures in place.

Britain: Asylum seeker suspected of having the deadly Ebola virus after developing symptoms within days of arriving in Britain from Libera.

UN: Yet to order travel restrictions , still monitoring situation

US Peace Corps evacuates hundreds from West Africa 

Nigeria: Anambra State indigene's corpse from Liberia causes fear.

KEEP WATCHING!

Sources: World Health Organization
                 The Wall Street Journal
                  The Telegraph (U.K)

Africa's Health Sector; An Oil-Well in the Making


Medic-All (31:07:14)


Amidst the various health challenges being faced on the African continent, there are strong indications that Africa's healthcare industry may be enjoying some significant if not a massive growth over the next few years and becoming a "oil-well" for teeming investors.



Whilst healthcare development in Africa has been close to "laggard", the  fast-paced economic growth in many African countries seems to be the driving force behind the recent huge increase in investment. It is estimated that Sub-Saharan Africa’s healthcare market will rocket to $35 billion by 2016!, this figure is set to increase even further in the years ahead fuelled by both domestic & international investment and an ever-increasing demand for healthcare.

As hospital development across Africa increases over the next few years to meet up with the present healthcare problems which include the lack of adequate healthcare facilities, so to will opportunities for international healthcare investors and solution providers involved in hospital equipment, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and other healthcare services and products.

We can only hope that such investments in the long term will translate Africa's healthcare sector into a viable and sustainable one that ranks amongst the best the world can offer.

Ref: Africa Health Care Summit

DOCTORS' STRIKE: Will the NMA be banned?

Day 30 : NMA Nationwide Strike Continues

As sad as it is to comprehend , the truth remains that doctors in government Hospitals across Nigeria under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have been on nationwide strike for the past one month over irreconcilable differences and alleged breach of trade union agreement.

Series of talks between government representatives and officials of federal government have so far failed to result in concrete agreement and hence the strike continues to linger as it enters it's second month , to the detriment of a large populace who cannot afford the cost of healthcare offered by the private hospitals.

IS THIS TRUE?

There are purported reports in some section of the media suggesting that the Federal Government plans to take drastic steps towards ending the 30-day old strike. This may include  banning the NMA, followed by the privatisation of  public health institutions. The no work, no pay principle will then be enforced, and doctors who are interested will be protected to resume duties while new ones will be employed to take the place of those who are not.

In my opinion, if these plans are indeed true , it only goes to show how ignorant the Government is when it comes to the organisation of multi-tier health services for a country.

MIND BUGGING...

What happens to the laws that established tertiary institutions? What happens to the training of medical students and residents when the Teaching hospitals become privatised? Will the Laws of the Federal Republic be changed so that the "now" Private hospitals will serve the primary functions (mainly training and research) as defined in the Acts that established the hospitals as opposed to making profits.

MORE Questions.....

Where will the Ministry of Health find the doctors to replace the present crop? Will retired doctors be recalled in addition to unemployed doctors, and perhaps some who are practising abroad in countries where doctors receive ideal incentives who agree to return home. Will the Ministry of Health reconstitute the entire health sector and import foriegn doctors keeping in mind that there are presently a meagre 30,000 or so Nigerian doctors in practice.

I guess we just have to wait to see what "great" plans the Government comes up with to salvage the state of an already inadequate health sector. TIME WILL TELL!



BREAKING:Sierra Leone's Top Ebola Doctor dies after contracting virus


Dailymail; U.K (29/07/14):
Sierra Leone's top doctor fighting an outbreak of Ebola has died from the virus, the country's chief medical officer, Brima Kargbo, said on Tuesday.


 Sheik Umar Khan, who was credited with 
treating more than 100 patients, was infected with Ebola this month and had been moved to a treatment ward run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in the far north of the country.
The news of his death comes as health officials admit they do not have a list of all the people a Liberian Ebola victim came into contact with in the hours before he collapsed, prompting fears the outbreak could spread.

Ebola Crisis: Will it Keep Spreading?

A Liberian doctor has died and two Americans have become infected in West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which has now spread to the region's most populous city, Lagos, Nigeria.
The Ebola scare!:How real?

Following the events of the past week , the news of the deadly Ebola virus disease has taken over discussions among health experts all over the world. The question in the minds of most people is:

"Whether the virus will indeed keep spreading,and how far it could,if it did"?

Until now, the virus, which kills up to 90 percent of those who fall ill, had struck mainly in small, rural villages in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. But this outbreak has covered a much broader area—and has killed more than 670 people since late last year. 

What are the chances of of the virus spreading?

Public health experts say they expect the virus to reach other parts of the world, including the United States, though it is widely believed that it's unlikely to spread widely in regions with well-funded hospitals and standard infection-control procedures.

How true is this?

WHAT WE KNOW

Ebola outbreaks grow

The deadly Ebola virus has been leaving its mark on Africa since the first outbreak in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the World Health Organization began reporting Ebola cases in March 2014, 1,201 cases and 672 deaths have been recorded in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. A recent case of Ebola virus was detected in Nigeria from a traveler.

Map of Ebola virus.

NOTE: SUSPECTED, PROBABLE, AND CONFIRMED CASES AND DEATHS AS OF JULY 23, 2014
MAGGIE SMITH, NG STAFF; JOEY FENING. SOURCE: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 



How contagious is Ebola?
This is not a highly transmissible disease, where the number of people who can be infected by a single individual is high. You have to come into very close contact with blood, organs, or bodily fluids of infected animals, including people. 
What is the way forward?
There is no doubt that we are dealing with a truly lethal infective disease (90% fatality rate), with no available treatment as we speak. The responsibility we have and owe to ourselves is to properly educate the populace on preventive measures, ensure a healthy practice (use of gowns, gloves, and other personal protective equipment amongst all health workers, isolate those who are potentially infected or exposed , ensure dequate screening and surveillance measures at borders and raising the immigration bar for travelers from countries with confimed outbreaks. Hopefully, with this, we should have it under control.

Businessdayonline: Lagos quarantines hospital where Ebola victim died

Businessdayonline (Lagos)
Monday 28/7/2014

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris on Monday, said the state has shut down and quarantined a hospital where a Liberian man died of Ebola in the first recorded case of the highly infectious disease in the country.

Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on arrival at Lagos airport on July 20 and was put in isolation at the First Consultants Hospital in Obalende. He died on Friday.
“We have shut the hospital to enable us to properly quarantine the environment. Some of the hospital staff who were in close contact with the victim have been isolated,” Idris said.
The hospital will be shut for a week and all staff monitored to ensure the virus has not spread, he added.
Ebola has killed 672 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it was first diagnosed in February.
It can kill up to 90 percent of those who catch it, although the fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 percent. Highly contagious, especially in the late stages, symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding.
Adding to the risks, Nigerian doctors are on strike over conditions and pay. Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association Tope Ojo was quoted in local media on Saturday as saying the strike would not be called off despite the Ebola threat.
Nigeria’s airports, seaports and land borders have been on “red alert” since Friday.
Liberia closed most of its border crossings on Sunday and introduced stringent health measures.
The World Health Organization said in a statement that Sawyer’s flight stopped in Lome in Togo on its way to Lagos.
“WHO is sending teams to both Nigeria and Togo to do follow up work in relation to contact tracing, in particular to contacts he may have had on board the flight,” WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said.
The WHO said that in the past week, its regional director for Africa, Luis Sambo, had been on a fact finding mission to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which have 1,201 confirmed, suspected and probable cases between them.
“He observed that the outbreak is beyond each national health sector alone and urged the governments of the affected countries to mobilise and involve all sectors, including civil society and communities, in the response,” the WHO statement said.
A relative surge in cases in Guinea after weeks of low viral activity showed that “undetected chains of transmission existed in the community”, the WHO said, calling for containment measures and contact tracing to be stepped up in Guinea.

DIAGNOSIS: A Troubled Health Sector

Day 28,Nationwide Doctors Strike:

It is not uncommon to find that in the midst of several conflicting reports, accusations and counter-accusations, the most salient and important of details are quickly forgotten while "shadow-chasing" very often becomes the order of the day.



Over the last few weeks I have come across several reports in the dailies and on social media as regards the on-going events in the Nigerian health sector. Most of these reports and articles, lopsided on many occasions, have a common denominator, presenting the Nigerian doctor as an enemy of the people and the manner of their submissions is such as to draw undue sympathy from the unsuspecting public and sometimes misinformed public.

It is perhaps apt at such a time as this to look closely at the health sector in Nigeria (which has being recently tagged "one of the least adequate on the continent" by the international media) and the real issues surrounding the nationwide strike action embarked upon by doctors under the umbrella of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) which enters it's 5th week from Tuesday the 29th.

I should quickly point out that the deplorable state of our healthcare system is not as a result of the performance of the health workers, but it is a component of an overall failed system called Nigeria which the Government is presently trying to salvage.

It must be recalled that the Nigerian Medical Association did state that it was taking the  "painful decision"  of indefinite withdrawal of services in order to save the healthcare system from imminent collapse. This was after the body had tabled a 23-point demand to the Federal Government about 2 weeks prior to the commencement of the strike action and issuing a 14-day ultimatum for the resolution of the issues.

Two of the key demands of the Nigerian Medical Association include:

1. Issues relating to the appointment of Chief Medical Directors and other federal appointments in the health sector. Clearly "the position of the Chief Medical Director must continue to be occupied by a medical doctor as contained in the Act establishing tertiary hospitals.

BY THE WAY
There are demands from other “Health Professionals” under the auspices of the Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU) for the chance to occupy such offices as the Chief Medical Director. 

2. An increase in doctors hazard allowance, skipping of grade level 12 (CONMESS 2) for medical and dental practitioners and the reversal of the title of consultants for other professionals in the health care system apart from doctors.

The NMA is largely displeased with certain appointments in the health sector which could distort the chain of command in health institutions and also lead to poor management of patients.

There is no doubt that the average Nigerian doctor is eager to return to work and deliver health care services to an already "short-changed" populace : We presently have less than 30,000 doctors looking after 170 million Nigerians ( a ratio of one doctor to 6000 patients! ). It is however of utmost importance to have a functional working environment, whereby the "over-stretched" Nigerian medical doctor is not hassled by "farcical" policies and defective welfare packages.

Source: Medicall-Inc


WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT THE EBOLA VIRUS!


EBOLA FACTS

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.

EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90%. The outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

In Africa, infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.

Ebola spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with the infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.

It is a severe acute viral illness often characterized by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. Laboratory findings include low white blood cell and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes.

The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is 2 to 21 days.

No licensed vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.

In the absence of effective treatment and a human vaccine, raising awareness of the risk factors for Ebola infection and the protective measures individuals can take is the only way to reduce human infection and death.

SOURCE: World Health Organization Media Centre


NMA Strike to continue despite Ebola threat -Lagos NMA

In spite  of  the imminent threat of the Ebola Virus in Lagos, striking medical doctors under the aegis of Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, have said they will not suspend the ongoing strike .
The Chairman of the association, Dr Tope Ojo, said the ongoing strike was not called because of Ebola and could not be called off because of the threat of the viral infection in the state.
He said, “We are not on strike because of Ebola. It was never part of our demands. It wasn’t our fault.”
He, however, said the doctors would continue to partner with the state government to monitor the trend of the disease to check its spread.
Ojo, who spoke at a press briefing organised by the newly elected officials of NMA in the state, said the association regretted that his team had to take over the leadership of the association during the industrial dispute.
He blamed the  ongoing crisis in the health sector on the Federal Government’s  mismanagement of the sector.
He said, ” Why should a government be willing to concede the headship of the medical institutions to the hands of allied health workers?
“Will the same government not concede to a hostess  the right to fly a plane or court bailiff  the post of a judge or the head of a university maintenance unit to be the vice chancellor because of the so-called opportunistic explanation of team work?”
Speaking on the contentious issue of granting the prayers of other health workers to become consultants , Ojo said the decision of the government, if allowed, will only create unending anarchy.
Ojo stated, “The title of ‘ Consultant’ in  medical practice is preserved exclusively for a doctor that has gone through a minimum of six years excruciating full time, postgraduate academic training.
“The patient is traditionally registered under a consultant, who owns the patient and reserves the right of success or failure in the chain of events.  We therefore warn the Nigerian people of the inherent danger of this conspiracy to deceive and confuse them as they attend hospitals for their health needs.
“NMA is not against the normal professional advancement of any allied health professional. Our position is that the situation must not arise where there will be anarchy and disruption of the chain of command that is bound to jeopardise patients’ lives.”
He added that a situation, where doctors are paid N5,000.00 monthly allowance for hazard was not only laughable but unbelievable.
Ojo said,“A doctor’s life can be lost in an instance when exposed to fatal illnesses such as Ebola, Lassa fever or he may be subjected to a life-long suffering from HIV or Hepatitis B infection

Ebola Virus:.Nigerian Government confirm first case in Lagos

ABUJA/GENEVA (Reuters) - A Liberian man who died in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Friday tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian finance ministry in his 40s, collapsed on Sunday after flying into Lagos, a city of 21 million people, and was taken from the airport and put in isolation in a local hospital. Nigeria confirmed earlier on Friday that he had died in quarantine.

"His blood sample was taken to the advance laboratory at the Lagos university teaching hospital, which confirmed the diagnosis of the Ebola virus disease in the patient," Chukwu told a press conference on Friday. "This result was corroborated by other laboratories outside Nigeria."

WELCOME TO MEDIC-ALL!

Hello! Dear Medical World, Medic-All Inc. Born today into the world of Medicine , but has being living in the mind of the blogger for years! So it's Hurray.


Medic-All seeks to create a platform for 1.Medical professionals all over the world to come together , interact and discuss topical issues that affect the profession and practice.
2. Networking amongst medical professionals including students and aspiring students! (Doctors are born not made)
3. Exchange of Information on Career options available to doctors and medical professionals at every level: including information on licensing examinations in the U.S, U.K , Canada, Australia.e.t.c , Masters programs, Research fellowships, Observerships, Externships, Internships , Electives .e.t.c
4. Medical Job opportunities everywhere and anywhere via our sole social network partner (MedJobs) and other facilities.
5. Ensuring every medical profession makes the best of the profession as well to ensure a terrain that is conducive and fulfilling for every stakeholder.
6.  Educating the public on medical conditions and sharing views and perspectives on pressing issues within the health sector.

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