Health

The Burns Centre: Professor Ahidjo’s Management Crusade At UMTH

Published

11 months ago

May 10, 2023

News Net Global

The Burns Centre: Professor Ahidjo’s Management Crusade At UMTH

By: Balami Lazarus

Recently, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital has been the subject of a great deal of positive commentary. These reports on medical facilities, services, and administration have enhanced the delivery of healthcare to the people of Borno state and Nigeria as a whole. However, everything claimed was true.

While the media has never highlighted the core of her medical development and advancement, NEWSng has dedicated itself to the story over the past few months and started to tell it in-depth, giving the true position from its interactions with staff, management interviews, patients, and from observation of what is happening on the ground to bring these positive lights on UMTH- the largest so far in Nigeria.

The leadership and management team of Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, the CMD, has brought this great institutional hospital to the next level of international standard in line with her objectives. These include the provision of medical facilities, capital projects, staff welfare, and labor relations.

There are just a few Burns Centers throughout the entire nation, and Yola and Maiduguri are the only two in the northeast. North East Development Commission (NEDC) constructed the UMTH Burns Center as part of its duties. The Burns Treatment Center has been in operation since it was commissioned in April 2022.

The Burns Centre At UMTH

This became possible following the story that the health industry has been one of Borno’s worst-hit industries throughout the more than 13-year Boko Haram conflict. The terrorists believed that by attacking government buildings, the people of the state and the administration would be forced to face the brunt of their campaign. As a result, health centers in Borno state and northeast Nigeria became targets. In Borno state in parts of the local government areas, hospitals and health centres were damaged, vandalized, or set on fire.

The few health centers and facilities that were serving the populace became overburdened as a result of the attacks in the majority of local government districts, which prompted inhabitants to migrate to Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State. This led to difficulties in the health sector.

Because of the overcrowding in the different internally displaced persons camps, which housed people who had been uprooted by the insurgency, infections were more likely to spread there. However, the difficulties in the health sector were reduced with the arrival of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and its interventions in the various health centers in Maiduguri and environs, particularly the partnership with the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), which gave birth to the much talk about Burns Centre.

The opening of the Burns Center was a much-welcomed development and a milestone that has maintained the UMTH’s prominence. It is vital to construct this Center because of the unique environment in Borno state. the unrest that engulfed the state during the height of the insurgency, when killings and destructions resulted in fatalities, injuries, and fires.

Burn patients lack a specialized unit or center in hospitals in the northeast to care for them since at the height of the insurrection there was no hope in sight for those suffering from burns. Only the accomplishments noted during Ahidjo’s led medical administration may reveal the concept of the management team to cooperate for growth with the Northeast Commission.

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One of the centers that some guests and hospital partners are unaware of is the UMTH Burns Center.”Except for the Kidney Center, Cancer Center, and Trauma Center, which I am all aware of, I have never heard of the Burns Center. But not for Burns Center. According to a report, a hospital visitor remarked this in response to the present situation there.

The Center’s head, Professor Chubado Tahir, a burns specialist and consultant, told NEWSng that it focuses on various burns treatments. Burns may be caused by fire, heat, or radiation, Professor Tahir continued. All of these are taken care of and treated in this Center. For the treatment and care of burns, we have all the required tools and supplies. My crew is skilled and trained in treating burns. Added Prof. Chubado.

He claimed that as burns are a delicate harm to the body in part or whole, the burns center is comparable to an intensive care unit. Burns come in two varieties: small burns and serious burns. Additional classifications include first-, second-, and third-degree burns. He clarified.

When NEWSng took a tour of the Center, nurse Aisha Umar Ngohi, a Metron, was there. Metron Ngohi stated that the hospital’s Burns Center is a good addition since “it has significantly lowered the rate of deaths from burn injuries.” You will receive the best treatment and attention at our infection-free facility. Additionally, it functions as an intensive care unit where recovery is handled with great care. Our wards are strictly reserved for patients exclusively. The open wards you often find in hospitals are not like this one.

The Burns Centre At UMTH

Burns have long been an ailment that needed skilled treatment, while others required surgical grafts. The Burns Center “came at the right time for the people of Borno state, considering the nature of our present environment where you find people with severe burns injuries as a result of the happenings in the northeast,” said Dr. Kefas Mbaya, a consultant of Plastic and Burns Surgery.

“In this sense, the Center has been achieving its main goals of providing patients with burn treatments and procedures. The Center has also advanced burn research and understanding through training medical students and researchers in the field.

The inability of some patients to pay for their medical costs is one of the difficulties this center has to deal with. The majority of our patients struggle to pay for their therapies. Treatments, care, and medicines for burns are necessary. Burn treatment medications are pricey. Therefore, we must account for our costs for consumables like oxygen, bandages, and cotton, among others. He spoke.

Another difficulty that NEWSng was forced to comprehend was the requirement for ventilation holes to be guarded from insects that can injure patients in wards. The Burns Center is one of several medical centers housed at the UMTH.

The Burns Centre: Professor Ahidjo’s Management Crusade At UMTH

Health

World Kedney Day: CMD Extols Borno Govt for Supporting UMTH’s Kedney Centre

Published

4 weeks ago

March 22, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

World Kedney Day: CMD Extols Borno Govt for Supporting UMTH’s Kedney Centre

By: Babagana Wakil

The Chief Medical Director of the University of Maiduguri teaching hospital, Professor Ahmed Ahidjo has reiterated the hospital’s commitment to the treatment of Kidney and other related diseases.

The hospital boss , made the disclosure yesterday while addressing members of the hospital Kidney Center as part of activities to mark the year 2024 World Kidney Day.

According to the Chief Executive, the hospital has remained a reference point among hospitals attending to such cases in Nigeria, while emphasizing that the role of the Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum can not be overemphasized.

According to him, the state government have been responsive and committed to activities related to kidney research and development, part of which recently, the government kickstarted the process that targeted about 50 million Naira to fund and assist research process in the Centre.

He admonished members of the Kidney unit to continously demonstrate high sense of professionalism and expertise when dealing with patients while emphasizing that in UMTH, patients remains the king.

On his part, the Director of the Kidney Centre, Professor Ibrahim Ummate, called on the general public to prioritize their health, as he noted that kidney disease is fast growing

According to him, about 18 percent of Borno population is presumed to be suffering from Kidney disease, while advising that people should endeavor to always drink water, eat healthy, exercise and always go for checkup of atleast 3 to 6 months intervals.

World Kedney Day: CMD Extols Borno Govt for Supporting UMTH’s Kedney Centre

Health

US, in 2023 Commits $600 million to Health in Nigeria

Published

2 months ago

February 29, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

US, in 2023 Commits $600 million to Health in Nigeria

By: Michael Mike

The United States has committed $20 billion into various health programmes in Africa, it said on Wednesday.

A released by the United States Embassy in Nigeria also revealed that: “In 2023 alone, the United States invested over $600 million in health assistance in Nigeria,” with U.S. partnerships on health in Nigeria saving millions of lives, strengthened health systems, and better prepared Nigeria and the region for current and future health security threats.

The release stated that: “The following are the facts about U.S. government partnership with Nigeria for health now and in the future: Preventing Malaria: Malaria threatens more than half the world’s population and claims the life of a child every minute, and the United States, together with our global partners, has helped save more than 11.7 million lives and prevented 2 billion malaria infections globally.

“Malaria is a leading cause of death in Nigeria, but malaria deaths in Nigeria have fallen by 55 percent since 2000. To advance Nigeria’s national. strategy to counter malaria, since 2011, the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) has taken steps to prevent illness and death by providing: Nearly 83 million insecticide-treated bed nets; 22 million malaria preventive treatments in pregnancy; 164 million fast acting malaria medicines; Insecticide to spray 121,000 homes; Over 102 million rapid diagnostic tests for malaria.

“Ending HIV: About 39 million people live with HIV globally, including an estimated 2 million in Nigeria. The United States and Nigeria are focused on ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030. The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has expanded HIV treatment and reduced HIV transmissions, saving more than 25 million lives in more than 50 partner countries over the past two decades and giving over 1.6 million Nigerians access to antiretroviral therapy. In Nigeria, PEPFAR has invested a total of more than $8.3 billion in the national HIV response.

“In 2023, PEPFAR resources supported:
Over 12 million people with HIV counseling and testing services; More than 2 million pregnant women with HIV counseling and testing services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV; More than 1.8 million people living with HIV with TB/HIV services; More than 1.5 million orphans and vulnerable children with care and
support services

“Delivering Vaccines: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States helped Nigeria vaccinate 70 percent of its eligible populations. The U.S. government supports Nigeria to control, eliminate, and eradicate other vaccine-preventable diseases as well. Through technical expertise and programmatic support, the United States collaborates with international and local partners to strengthen immunization systems and expand routine vaccine delivery.

“In the course of these efforts, the U.S. government has: Donated 44 million doses of COVID vaccine; Supported vaccination of 2,145,063 children for polio in security-compromised areas, helping Nigeria become certified free of wild poliovirus in 2020; Supported introduction of four new vaccines for children, including
rotavirus, IPV2, measles, and HPV.

“Advancing Global Health Security: The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Ebola, mpox, and other outbreaks in the country and region, has shown the devastating impacts of infectious disease on health, economies, and societies. Together, the United States and Nigeria are working to strengthen health security capacities. Several U.S. government agencies partner with the Nigerian government to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from emerging public health threats. Through these collaborations, we are protecting the health of Nigerians, Americans, and people across the globe. Key activities in Nigeria include: Establishing a Public Health Emergency Management Program that has trained 55 national and subnational emergency managers who have responded to seven priority outbreaks; Enhancing Nigeria’s national disease surveillance systems, by training more than 800 epidemiologists and scientists to promote global best practices; Developing Nigeria’s laboratory diagnostics to test for Ebola, mpox, yellow fever, measles, Lassa fever, cholera, and cerebrospinal meningitis, thus strengthening Nigeria’s ability to quickly detect and respond to outbreaks.”

US, in 2023 Commits $600 million to Health in Nigeria

Health

Lassa Fever: FG Launches National Deratisation Exercise

Published

2 months ago

February 28, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Lassa Fever: FG Launches National Deratisation Exercise

By: Michael Mike

The Hon Minister of State for Environment Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako has launched the National Deratization framework exercise to prevent and control the spread of Lassa fever in the Country.

The Minister who was respresented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, Mahmud Kambari while briefing the Press in Abuja stated that ‘I stand to provide an update on the recent outbreak of Lassa Fever reported by 44 Army Referral Hospital in Kaduna State and subsequent spread of the disease in the state ‘.

He said the meeting with the State Emergency Response Team (SERT), has provided the etiological pattern of the disease. 12 suspected cases was recorded with 6 mortality, 2 additional cases originated from another facility in Barau Dikko Hospital , while 92 persons are under surveillance as contact person, adding that the team has visited the affected facility (44 Army Referral Hospital) on 25th of February 2024 which gathered information as follows:

The general hygiene and cleanliness of the hospital was assessed as well as measures put in place to prevent the spread of the disease through disinfection and decontamination were both deemed effective and found adequate.

The team further confirmed the efficacy of the treatment by using an ITP machine and use of sodium hydrochloride in correct proportion and formulation to ensure safety of the facility.

The team recommended that the facility be deratized to reduce the population of the disease carrying vector, specifically rats.

He noted that our’s in the Environment Sector is to provide solution, make the environment safe and unconducive for the vector to grow because it is responsible for the disease.

The Registrar, Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON), Dr. Yakubu Baba Muhammad reiterated that the Minister’s directives on all the facilities whether public or private should undergo derating exercise for examples hotels, markets, restaurants and recreation centres after which they will be issued Derating Exemption Certificate by EHCON.

Dr. Yakubu disclosed that the ministry has directed the Council to embark on massive capacity building to update the knowledge of the practioners on the new innovations, new approaches to control and address the disease.

He added that component of health education, promotion and creation of awareness in the communities also plays an important role.

“At the community level, the issue of waste management cannot be over emphasized. At this time and period, reminant food should not be exposed while our food stuff and stores should be rats proof. In the character of rats once there is no food, rats vacates the house”. He added

He further emphasized that another approach to combat the spread of this disease is by getting to the grassroot, its a collective responsibility as government is doing their job, citizens should do their parts.

He also said farmers using roads for drying farm products should be discouraged from doing so because this gives rats to come and urinate, defecate; passing feaces that contains the virus that causes disease and contamination of the food.

Yakubu warned that our communities should reduce or stop taking bush meat, saying is not healthy for now because the virus has residual effect even after the death of the animal.

Lassa Fever: FG Launches National Deratisation Exercise