Month: July 2023

More than 300 adults and children on Saturday benefited from a medical outreach organised by an area headquarters of the Redeemed Christian Church of God to celebrate 26th anniversary.

The Calvary Area Headquarters in Lagos Province 89 organised the outreach in collaboration with Chike Okoli Foundation, Emzor PPharmaceuticals Plc. and Pharmatex Industries.

The area headquarters is located at Oshodi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the medical outreach included free consultation, checking of blood pressure, blood sugar screening, deworming, body mass index check and a general check-up.

The Pastor-in-Charge of the area, Mr Jeffrey Aganbi, said at the event that the church was commitment to community development.

He said that the headquarters started an annual medical outreach in 2018, by the inspiration of God, to give back to the society.

He said that government alone could not provide all basic needs of the citizens.

“The programme is another way to reach out to our immediate community and help to provide solutions to their health challenges through nurses and doctors, at no cost,” he said.

Aganbi praised the management of Chike Okoli Foundation, Emzor Pharmaceuticals Plc. and Pharmatex Industries for supporting the church in bringing succour to the needy.

He said that the anniversary with the theme: “Generational Blessings,” which started on Tuesday, would end on Sunday with a thanksgiving service.

Dr Rotimi Adesanya, a family physician and Head of Medical Service, Federal College of Education Medical Centre, Akoka, Lagos State, praised the church for the initiative.

Adesanya, who was in the medical team at the event, said that many Nigerians shunned medical treatment because of economic hardship.

“What the church is doing is good for the society, it is complementary to what government is doing.

“The truth is that, in this present time, many people are unable to access healthcare due to the prevailing economic situation.

“People don’t have money to even take transport to hospital, and many of our people do what is called out-of-pocket treatment; they don’t have health insurance, they pay from their pockets.

“Now, money is scarce; so, many people cannot go to hospital, but the church is providing this service for free,” he said.

Adesanya said that some people with high blood pressure were not aware that they had the condition.

“Many people with high blood pressure don’t know that they have it and they don’t have money to buy drugs.

“The church is giving them the drugs free; we saw many malaria cases too and we advised them to sleep with insecticide-treated nets,” Adesanya said.

Adesanya urged Nigerians to embrace healthy lifestyles by reducing salt intake, having regular exercises and eating healthy.

According to him, prevention is better than cure.

Mrs Esther Ayo from Chike Okoli Foundation, who was also in the medical team, said that a lot of people were hypertensive, while some were diabetic without knowing.

Ayo said that many of the beneficiaries knew their health statuses through the medical outreach.

She said that the medical outreach offered the community members an opportunity to know their medical conditions and have access to free drugs.

Ayo said that the organisation was happy to partner with the church to show love to the community.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Ifeyinwa Obi, commended the church for the annual medical outreach, saying that the church had been a responsible organisation.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The rising number of people dying from snakebites across the country has heightened the calls for local production of Anti-Snake Venom (ASV) vaccines, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Reports from across major snakebite treatment centres indicate that the incidences of the attacks have continued to rise with many victims unable to survive.

Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited major snakebite treatment centres in Kaltungo, Gombe State, and Zamko in Langtang, Plateau State, found that the cases had risen with the farming season at its peak.

Worst hit are the farmers who clash with the snakes in the fields as well as nomads that move inside the forests with their cattle.

NAN found that while some patients die in hospitals and specialist snakebite treatment centres, others die in the hands of herbalists.

Others also die at home while trying to manage the situation with relations.

Dr Abubakar Ballah, Chief Medical Director (CMD), Kaltungo Snakebite Treatment and Research Centre, told NAN that an average of 11 patients are received everyday.

The situation is the same in Zamko Comprehensive Medical Centre, a medical outpost of Jos University Teaching Hospital, and Bambur medical centre, Karim Lamido in Taraba, where even more scary figures are being reported.

Medics at the various centres blamed the rising number of death cases on the lack of ASV required for the treatment of bites from snakes in Nigeria.

Among such snakes are Carpet Vipers, Cobra and Puff Adder.

Dr Nandul Durfa, Managing Director, Echitab Study Group, the firm that supplies the ASV drugs to Nigeria, blamed the current acute shortage on the lack of supply.

He told NAN that the drugs are produced in Liverpool, U.K. and Costa Rica afterwhich they are imported into Nigeria at an exorbitant cost in view of the tough and cumbersome processes involved.

According to him, the drug production process starts from catching, caging and transporting the live snakes from Nigeria to the countries where the ASV will be produced.

“When the live snakes are taken there, they will be killed and the venom used to produce the ASV drugs.

“The drugs are then sent to Nigeria when it is convenient for the producers to do so.

“Very often, we may have an urgent need for the drugs, but the producers also have their schedules and shall only attend to us when it is convenient for them.

“Currently, we are in a desperate situation and need the drugs, but we can’t stampede them. So, you see, we are clearly at their mercy. What it simply means is that our destiny is not in our hands – which is quite dangerous.

“Again, when the drugs eventually come, they are usually very costly – that shouldn’t even be a surprise in view of the cost of production.”

Durfa, a former CMD of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, said that a vial of the ASV drug costs 59 British Pounds at production.

“In view of the poor value of the Naira, the drug gets so costly for the victims that are mostly the poor farmers and cattle rearers,” he said.

He said that some state governors had often purchased the drugs to assist victims in their domains, but regretted that there were moments the drug could be out of stock, leaving everyone helpless.

To tackle the situation, Durfa said that Nigeria must produce the ASV drug locally.

“The producers of drug in Liverpool, Wales and Costa Rica are ready to transfer the technology to Nigeria and teach Nigerians how to handle the process. We only need to be wiling to invest in the process,” he said.

To ensure that the ASV drug is produced locally, Durfa said that his outfit applied for a kick-start of the process in 2006 and secured the approval of then President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

“Obasanjo approved that the project be funded from monies voted for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The then health minister, Prof. Eyitambo Lambo, tried in vain to secure the support of the officials of the MDGs.

Durfa said that his team renewed the effort to produce the ASV drug locally few years ago by approaching the immediate past Federal Government.

“We applied for a grant and the request was submitted to two ministries – industries and health.

“A letter was written to President Muhamadu Buhari recommending the local production of ASV by Echitab Study Group.

“We got a strongly worded letter by the Chief of Staff to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“We were made to understand that the Department of State Financing wrote a favourable response to our request. All papers were on the Governor’s table up to when he left office recently,” he fumed.

The physician emphasised the need for the nation’s leaders to support the effort to produce the ASV drug locally, especially with the encouragement being given to Nigerians to return to the farms to make Nigeria food sufficient.

“Now, there are many cases of snakebites, but no drugs. People are dying needlessly. It is a shame.

“If we manufacture the drug in Nigeria, we shall reduce the cost of transport and the huge amount paid to technicians in foreign lands.

“We shall also ward off payments for the handling of snakes up to U.K and Costa Rica.

“If we produce locally, the general cost will crash, there will be no long waiting time and we won’t face a severe shortage as we currently do.

“Technically, our technicians shall be trained on manufacturing the ASV, and shall focus on vaccines relevant to our needs.

“Other advantages include mass employment of our people including snake charmers, handlers, research fellows, among others.

“There will also be easy access to the ASV and we won’t have people just resigning to their fate and dying when they should not”.

Durfa particularly regretted a recent situation where a female student in the University of Yola died of snakebite, and declared that such death and many others like that were “quite unnecessary”.

He appealed to the Federal Government to critically look into the need to produce the ASV drug locally to end the scourge of deaths from snakebite across the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Kaduna State, says it auctioned two helicopters at 556,200,322USD (N1.2 billion), because of under utilisation.

The Rector and Chief Executive Officer of the institution, Capt. Alkali Modibbo, told newsmen on Sunday in Zaria that the two Bell 206B – III model helicopters were disposed after satisfying all due diligence.

Modibbo explained that a Federal Government licenced auctioneer, Messrs Tresmo Nigeria Limited, was appointed to dispose the affected helicopters sequel to the approval and valuation reports obtained from the Federal Ministries of Aviation and Works, respectively.

According to him, the auctioneer paid $275,782,661.25 and $280,417,661.25 (totalling N1.2bn) vide FGN Remita receipts bearing reference numbers 3008-4333-3046 and 1008-4304-1098, accordingly.

He recalled that the Nigerian Navy expressed interest to acquire the two helicopters via a letter dated 13th December 2022, with Ref. No: NHQ:04/61/93/OPS/VOL. VII/23.

“I am directed to convey the compliments of the Chief of the Naval Staff to the Rector and Staff of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, and to further Express our interest to inspect the 2 Bell 206L – 3 (Long Range) helicopters proposed to be disposed by your organisation.

“The Nigerian Navy (NN) is aware that the 2 Bell 206L – 3 helicopters are currently grossly underutilised due to none training of helicopter pilots at the facility.

“I am to respectfully inform the Rector that the NN operates a similar type of helicopter and hereby expresses its interest to inspect the helicopters for possible acquisition with a view to bolster its operations towards ensuring a safe and secure maritime environment,” the letter read in part.

Consequently, the Director of Tresmo Nigeria Limited, Mr Adeyemi Apata, applied to be appointed as the auctioneer for NCAT vide a letter dated March 3, Modibbo revealed.

Furthermore, the NCAT chief executive said that the Federal Ministry of Aviation in a letter dated 15th March, 2023, granted approval for the disposal of the two Bell 206 helicopters to enable the college acquire Basic Trainer Helicopters.

Again, in furtherance of following due process, the college obtained the Valuation Reports of the affected helicopters from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing via a letter dated 30th March 2023.

This culminated to the engagement of Messrs Tresmo as the auctioneer vide NCAT.11/1204/VOL.1/043, dated 6th April 2023, Modibbo stated.

The NCAT Rector added that the auctioneer also accepted and executed the disposal of the helicopters via a letter signed by Mr Baba Malik on 7th April 2023, which also remitted the proceeds of N1.2 billion into the Federal Government account.

He, therefore, emphasised that due diligence was followed in the auctioning of the two unutilised helicopters to boost the training needs of the college.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria