Hospitals
ICPC indicts 88 MDAs for procurement act violations
File Photo The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has indicted 88 Ministries, Departments and Agencies for violating the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 in the last three years. The anti-graft agency also said 53 MDAs were guilty of tax default, noting that they had been on the Federal Inland Revenue Service tax defaulters list for three years. It classified 132 MDAs that did not respond to its assessment as ‘corruption high-risk MDAs’ stressing that they “will be treated as such.” This was contained in the ICPC Ethics and Compliance Scorecard of Federal MDAs 2020 made available to newsmen on Tuesday. The commission in its assessment found that none of the MDAs attained full compliance with ethical and accountability standards for efficiency ...
Official: 17 persons died of ‘strange illness’ in Benue
Seventeen persons were reported to have died of a strange illness ravaging the Okpeilo-Otukpa area in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State. The State Government in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Commissioner for Health and Human Service, Dr Emmanuel Ikwulono, said, “At the time of the receipt of the report yesterday, 9th November, 2020, about 17 persons were already said to have died of the illness. “We currently have one case which was brought to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi by a relative of the patient. Others are receiving treatment in different hospitals.” The commissioner, in the statement signed by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Andrew Amee, said symptoms of the illness usually include fever, abdominal pain, and general body weakness, whil...
Strange illness kills two in Kogi community
Two persons have been confirmed dead at a Fulani and Tiv farm settlement in Odo-Ere, Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State as a result of strange illness. Others affected by the strange illness were said to be receiving treatment at some private hospitals and ECWA Hospital Egbe. A Director in the YWLGA, Reuben Oshagbemi, said the incident was first reported at a private clinic, adding that symptoms of the sickness include stooling, diarrhoea and vomiting. He however pointed out that the situation was under control. Oshagbemi explained that the Ministry of Health had been contacted, noting that the “state epidemiologists will determine the nature of the illness.” However, when our correspondent contacted the state Commissioner for Health, Saka Audu, he said his team of medical pers...
Bauchi reassures on timely release of counterpart funds to development partners
Bauchi State Government has reassured development partners and other stakeholders in the health sector that, it will not relent in its effort of providing a safe and habitable environment in hospitals across the state. The reassurance was given on Sunday by Governor Bala Mohammed who also reassured development partners on the desire of his administration towards the timely release of counterpart funding for the fulfilment of all the agreements and commitments signed. The governor was speaking at the commissioning of an upgraded Hospital Sanitation Facility at Specialist Hospital Bauchi executed by the State Government in partnership with Water is Right Foundation, a German-based organisation. Bala Mohammed who described upgrading of the sanitation facilities as timely said that his adminis...
Nigeria records 133 new virus cases, 3 more deaths
Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 133 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 62, 224. Three more deaths were also recorded, taking the total fatalities from the disease to 1,135. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday night. The 113 new cases were reported from 12 states. These are Lagos (51), FCT (15), Plateau (11), Kaduna (8), Oyo (8), Rivers (8), Ogun (4), Edo (2), Imo (2), Kwara (2), Delta (1), Kano (1). Lagos, which again had the majority of infections on Tuesday with 51 new cases, remains Nigeria’s COVID-19 hotspot with over 20,000 infections and 208 deaths. Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Is the second most impacted with about 6,000 cases and 80 deaths. Nigeria has been reporting cases below 300 for about t...
Governor Abiodun: Ogun needs 150 health workers to address shortfall
The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has said the State needs additional 150 health workers in the junior cadre to reduce the acute shortage of manpower in the state-owned hospitals. The governor disclosed this while speaking to journalists at the National Physicians’ week of the NMA in Abeokuta, the state capital. Abiodun said he has given approval to all state-owned hospitals to commence the recruitment of 20 consultant doctors as a way of addressing manpower shortage. The governor, who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi, said the recruitment was necessary to reduce the shortage of manpower and also boost healthcare delivery in the state. Abiodun added that he has also approved the regularisation of payment of appropriate remuneration for all doctor...
NOA mobilizes Sokoto communities against open defecation
File Photo The National Orientation Agency (NOA), has commenced active community engagements against open defecations in rural communities in Sokoto State. The state Director of NOA, Alhaji Maude Danchadi disclosed this at a stakeholders meeting on ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ campaign, held on Wednesday in Sokoto. He said that the campaign was in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. He said that NOA would deploy its robust structures and officials in local government areas to promote reorientation and mobilise Nigerians for social change and prevention of open defecations. Danchadi noted that open defecation and poor sanitation have implication on public health, especially in the outbreak of water-borne diseases, and high mortality rate in rural areas. According to...
Reckitt Benckiser donates N65m worth of hygiene products to Nigerian government
Reckitt Benckiser (RB), makers of Dettol and Jik, has donated hygiene products worth N65 million to Federal Ministry of Health to enable it respond to coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria, improve access to health, hygiene and nutrition for Nigerians. Donated items included hygiene products such as antiseptic disinfectants, dettol soaps, Jik bleach, full Personal Protective Equipments (PPE), and 100 mobile hand wash units to be installed at locations as advised by the ministry of health. The donations which was presented by representatives of RB at the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, was received by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, in company of other senior ministry officials. In his remarks, the Minister thanked RB for the donations, stating that “you have been in business for f...
Nigerian government activates all FCT public hospitals for coronavirus sample collection
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), has said that all government hospitals in FCT would become COVID-19 sample collection sites so that walk-in cases could have samples taken for testing. The Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, who announced this during the PTF briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said that the move was geared towards scaling up the number of daily tests conducted in the country daily. “This assures users and caregivers of reduced bottlenecks and improved efficiency in our response. We intend to scale this up to other states of the federation,” he said. Ehanire said that all health workers would be trained and retrained on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and issued PPEs and materials required for discharge of their duties. The minister also directed the deployment a...
NGO laments dilapidated infrastructure in Enugu
Enugu-based Non Governmental Organisation, Daniel Ukwu Leadership Foundation, has urged the state and local governments to pay adequate attention to public schools and hospitals in the state. Mr Daniel Ukwu, Executive Director of the foundation, made the call during a courtesy visit to newsmen in Enugu on Monday. Ukwu decried the deplorable state of government schools and health centres in the state. He said that he discovered the deplorable situation when the foundation went on inspection tour of over 12 local government areas in the state. The councils areas visited were Ezeagu, Nkanu West, Udi, Awgu, Oji River, Igboeze North, Isi-Uzo, Nkanu East, Enugu North, Enugu South, Igbo Etiti and Nsukka local government. The executive director attributed the infrastructure problems to lack of pol...
PTF decries continued refusal by hospitals to treat patients for fear of coronavirus
The Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 (PTF) has decried the continued refusal by medical institutions including federal tertiary institutions to receive and treat patients for fear COVID-19. PTF lamented that this development has resulted in several unfortunate and avoidable fatalities. Meanwhile, the PTF will conclude its assessment on the impact of the measures put in place and further recommendations would be submitted to the President for a decision within the next seventy hours. Chairman of PTF and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who disclosed this at the daily Press Briefing in Abuja, noted that Nigeria is having more deaths from non-attendance to other diseases than even COVID 19 adding that the reason for the greater emphasis on COVID 19 is ...
Tanzania summons US official over coronavirus warning
Tanzania said on Tuesday it had summoned the top official at the US embassy to object to an advisory that warned of “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases in the east African nation. The embassy’s “health advisory” published earlier this month contained inaccurate information, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The advisory reported, for instance, that “many hospitals” in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital, “have been overwhelmed in recent weeks”. This claim “is not true and could cause panic among Tanzanians and foreigners”, the foreign ministry’s statement said. The US embassy’s charge d’affaires, Inmi Patterson, met with Wilbert Ibuge, permanent secretary at the foreign ministry, who reminded Patterson about the two countries’ “historical cooperation”, the foreign ministry said....
