Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, has launched Free Healthcare Service schemes for poor and vulnerable people in the state.
The governor mentioned at the launch of the scheme in Damaturu that, “The new expanded and remodelled Free Healthcare Scheme, which we are launching, will greatly improve the accessibility of high quality and effective healthcare services in the state, particularly to the poor and vulnerable people, to achieve long-term universal health coverage and promote a healthy and productive society.
“This new scheme will sustain and improve the gains of the former Free Drugs Programme for the benefit of our citizens.”
Yobe Sets Up Free Healthcare Scheme For Poor, Vulnerable Residents
The new scheme is a complete package fused into a single framework comprising the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, the State Equity Programme, and the Subsidised Formal Sector Programme. It also includes Deferral and Exemptions and Free Maternal, New-born, and Child Health Programmes that are both operational at health facility levels.
These are all aimed to improve access and provide qualitative and affordable healthcare services to our teeming people, especially the poor and the vulnerable.
He added, “I am also happy to once again launch and present to the public the YSCHMA Informal Sector Programme that will provide a prescribed package of healthcare services at uniform contributions of NGN12,000 per person per annum, accessible to all self-employed residents at the grassroots.”
“Since the inception of our administration, we have sustained both financial and administrative commitment to the implementation of the former free Maternal, New-born, and Child Health Services programmes in the state.
“This administration has introduced other laudable initiatives such as the establishment of Yobe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency and Yobe State Drug and Medical Consumables Management Agency to primarily expand healthcare financing fiscal space and ensure sustainable supply and availability of high quality, safe, affordable, and accessible drugs, reagents, and other medical consumables at all times, in all the health facilities across the state.”
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Anambra branch, has expressed concern over the rising cases of kidnap, especially among its members in the state.
The body, in a statement called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo and security agencies in Anambra to take more proactive measures to stem the ugly tide.
The statement was signed by Dr. Jane Ezeonu and Dr. Dubem Awachie, Ag Chairman and Secretary of NMA in Anambra.
According to the doctors, no fewer than three of their members had been reported kidnapped in the state from January to June this year.
The most recent was on June 25 when a member was kidnapped at Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area on his way from work.
The NMA said, “We regretfully bring to notice, yet another kidnap of a doctor in Anambra.
“On Saturday, June 25, a doctor and member of our association was kidnapped in the evening while returning from work at Nimo, where he works in a private hospital.
“He was kidnapped alongside a friend, a pharmacy student, and were both held in captivity for over 24 hours by their abductors. They were only released on the night of June 26.
“The NMA in Anambra deeply appreciates our colleagues, as well as other friends, who rallied round to support the family to facilitate their release,” it stated.
The NMA said medical doctors were law-abiding citizens who went about their duties at late hours in a bid to maintain the health of the people.
It warned that doctors may not be able to guarantee the provision of unhindered healthcare services to the people if the government did not take urgent measures to ensure their security.
“We seize this opportunity to once again call on the authorities, particularly the Anambra government, to step up efforts at surmounting the security challenges in the state.
“We may resort to actions to reverse this ugly trend and safeguard our members,” it added.
1689 Matsuo Basho, Zen poet, leaves for 150 days journey on Honshu, Japan
1798 Baptism of Mary Webb, a Bostonian. She had been reluctant to take this public step of faith because of a physical deformity which bound her to a wheelchair. She will become a leading mission organizer.
1835 Robert Murray McCheyne is licensed to preach at the Presbytery of Annam, where he will become a famous pastor and revivalist.
1858 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society
1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee’s northward advance halted
1867 The Dominion of Canada is formed, comprising the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario & Quebec, with John A. Macdonald serving as the first Prime Minister
1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: The British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)
1921 The Communist Party of China is founded and Chen Duxiu elected its leader
1941 Bulova Watch Co pays $9 for 1st ever network TV commercial
1997 United Kingdom returns Hong Kong and the New Territories to the People’s Republic of China
HISTORICAL EVENTS TODAY
TODAY IN MUSIC
1967 The Beatles’ album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” goes #1 in the United States, where it would stay for 15 weeks
TODAY IN SPORT
1998 NBA commences a player lockout after no agreement with players about salary issues – lasts 204 days with the season shortened by 50 games
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1908 “SOS” (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal becomes the worldwide standard for help
1916 1st of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Beach Haven when Charles Vansant (25) bled to death, challenging previous scientific belief that sharks never hurt humans, and sparking popular fear over sharks which persists today
FAMOUS WEDDINGS
1900 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (36) weds countess Sophie Chotek (32) in Reichstadt, Bohemia
1902 British admiral John Jellicoe (42) weds Gwendoline Cayzer at Holy Trinity in London
1916 Dwight Eisenhower marries Mary `Mamie’ Geneva Doud in Denver, Colorado
The Federal Government has emphasised on the importance of training and re-training of civil servants, especially through Public Private Partnership (PPP) for efficient service delivery.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, made the call at a Workshop and Fellowship Induction of Integrated Institute of Professional Management (IIPM), in Abuja.
Mustapha said the workshop was a free advanced leadership development and fellowship Induction for 100 participants in the category of directors, deputy directors and assistant directors of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He further stated that the workshop, which was organised by the institute, was tailored toward providing the participants with contemporary leadership qualities which would definitely produce measurable impacts on economy.
According to him, both the government and the private organisations have realised that training offers the only way of developing employee skills and capacity for better delivery of public services.
The SGF said the workshop was a welcome development as it strived to address issues on management challenges in the civil service.
He added that the workshop would offer highest cadre of the civil service the requisite skills and competence to carry out their duties effectively. The SGF went on to say, the Federal Government was ready to collaborate with the institute for effective service delivery, urging the participants to take the workshop seriously for a better understanding of good management.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, said the workshop would assist to maintain management ethical standards and championing the advancement of knowledge in the service.
Yemi-Esan said that the OHCSF had initiated various reforms, policies, cultures and systems into the civil service to replace inefficient ways of doing things in the service.
She, however, appreciated the IIPM for organising the workshop, adding that the effort would improve tremendously in the service delivery.
The Director-General, National Productivity Centre, Dr Kashim Akor, said that the essence of the workshop was in the pursuit of continuous improvement in the area of capacity building for economic development.
Akor said, for any organisation to function efficiently, it required human intervention, adding that the workshop provided an opportunity for networking and exchanging of knowledge.
He urged the participants to be dedicated, firm and fair in the discharging of their duties, adding that such commitment would bring about effective service delivery.
The Executive Director, IIPM, Mr Eburuche Banito, said that the institute wanted to build a sustainable capacity that would help the civil servants improve in their productivity.
Also, Mr Francis Binuyo, Accreditation Curriculum Development Centre for Management Development, said that the objective of the workshop was to improve the productivity of the participants in their various fields.
Binuyo said that the workshop would as well help the participants see perspectives of how their roles in policy implementation, formulation and development would translate to tangible result, thereby achieving effective service delivery.
Dozens of Halifax customers are closing their accounts with the bank after a staff member told them to leave if they don’t like their new pronoun policy.
The bank announced on social media earlier this week that it would allow staff to display their preferred pronouns on their name badges. A post that read ‘pronouns matter’ and the hashtag ‘ItsAPeopleThing’ showed a photo of a female staff member’s name badge which featured ‘she/her/hers’ in brackets. But more than 150 social media users have since said they are boycotting the former building society after being lectured about inclusivity.
Some have cut up their credit cards while others are lodging complaints about Halifax’s social media manager who, when customers accused the bank of ‘virtue-signaling’, told them: ‘If you disagree with our values, you’re welcome to close your account.’
One user said: ‘Just closed my Halifax account after 19 years with them. Another said: ‘My wife and I have followed this advice, partly due to Halifax’s current virtue signaling but mostly the eagerness of AndyM to lose customers.’
Speaking today, PR expert Martin Townsend said Halifax’s policy is what he described as a ‘Ratner moment’ and ‘astonishing’.
“It’s astonishing that they do something to make themselves look right on and virtue signalling – and they end up looking like the most old-fashioned bullies, telling them: “If you don’t like it you’re welcome to leave”.
‘It’s extraordinary. Who treats their customers like that? I’ve never heard of a company inviting their customers to go. It’s so typical of debate these days: “If you don’t like it, off you go”. How is that inclusive? There are big questions about Halifax today and who came up with it’.
‘Telling customers they should go elsewhere if they don’t share their beliefs is an incredible statement for a business to make.’
On its website, Halifax says any customers they deem to be ‘transphobic’ could have their accounts closed.
Underneath a page titled ‘what we stand for’ is written: ‘We stand against discrimination and inappropriate behaviour in all forms, whether racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or ableist, regardless of whether this happens in our branches, offices, over the phone or online on our social media channels.
‘Such action may include account closure or contacting the police if necessary.’
With over 10,000 negative comments and reactions, there was clear evidence that its defiant attitude to those who expressed their objections was backfiring.
Financial commentator Matthew Lynn warned: ‘Companies don’t need to aggressively take positions on what are still quite divisive social issues. It probably didn’t come from the CEO – it comes from a bunch of millennial 20-somethings running the Twitter feed.
‘To tell customers that they should go and close down their accounts and go to a different bank because they have a slightly different view on this is way too aggressive.’
One man said a customer services assistant was ‘deliberately obstructive’ after he told her why he wanted to close his account.
He added that the assistant ‘doubled down and said they’re a business of inclusiveness and equality and then closed the chat but not my account’.
But another customer said: ‘To be fair, I’ve just closed my account and the staff were so apologetic. Clearly not all the Halifax staff agree with this extremist ideology.’
Women Friendly Initiative (WFI), an NGO, says it is committed to contributing its quota to end Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and drug abuse among youths in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Chief Executive Officer of the NGO, Dr Francis Eremutha, disclosed this on Thursday at a one-day meeting with school management responders and health officials in Abuja.
He said the meeting created an opportunity for school counsellors, health workers and CSOs to share experiences, challenges, innovations and successes recorded in the course of activities to curb the menace.
He encouraged participants at the meeting to take advantage of the GBV and drug abuse response directory developed on the project to enhance collaboration and effective referral linkages.
The Programe Manager for WFI, Mrs Rosemary Adejoh-Adaji, lauded the school authorities and partners for efforts toward tackling drug abuse in the country.
She said about 150 stakeholders comprising school counsellors, clinic operatives, health club coordinators, student leaders, health workers, and civil society organisations had earlier received GBV and drug abuse prevention and response training.
According to her, WFI is currently targeting over 20,000 students through sensitisation campaigns in FCT schools to raise awareness about the menace.
Mrs Eunice Madaki, the GBV and Adolescent and Youth Desk Officer for Kuje Area Council, commended WFI for the initiative.
She urged the organisation to also intensify efforts at targeting parents in the campaign to achieve an all-inclusive sensitisation.
According to a report, the number of academics from several major European countries working in UK higher education has shrunk for the first time.
International Facts and Figures 2022, published by Universities UK International on 30 June, says that nearly one in three (32.1 per cent) academics working in the UK in 2020-21 came from overseas – a total of 71,475 – and of these, more than half (53.5 per cent) were from the European Union.
While Italian nationals continued to form the largest group of international academic staff, with 6,635 of them in the UK, their cohort shrank that year for the first time since 2004-05, when the Higher Education Statistics Agency started collecting data. The drop was marginal, at 0.3 per cent.
Germany, the third-largest source of academics, also had its numbers fall by 2.8 per cent to 5,505.
The number of French academics in the UK fell by 3.1 per cent to 3,175, while the Dutch cohort was down 0.6 per cent to 1,765.
Among the top 20 source countries, there were also fewer academics in the UK from Greece (down 0.9 per cent to 3,940) and Romania (down 2.6 per cent to 760).
Previous data have shown a rapid increase in the number of European academics leaving the UK in the wake of the country’s vote to quit the EU, and a drop in the number of EU staff taking up new posts.
The downward trend was not universal: the number of Irish academics working in the UK rose by 2.1 per cent to 4,620, while there were also increases from Spain (up 0.4 per cent to 3,475), Poland (up 2.1 per cent to 1,430) and Portugal (up 2.4 per cent to 1,280).
But the most rapid growth in the past five years has come from non-EU sectors, namely Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and India.
Between 2019-20 and 2020-21, the number of Nigerian academics in the UK grew by 15 per cent to 1,185, while the number of Turkish academics climbed by 9.4 per cent to 815.
There were 820 scholars from Pakistan, up 8.6 per cent; 3,460 from Iran, up 8.8 per cent; and 1,360 from Iran, up 7.5 per cent. China’s growth rate was slower – up 2.8 per cent to 5,660 – but that still makes it the second largest overseas cohort overall.
Researchers have previously suggested that scholars from leading western European sectors may have been most likely to leave the UK, with staff from central or eastern Europe apparently less troubled by a possible Brexit effect, potentially reflecting poorer working conditions in this part of the bloc.
As well as the feeling of not being welcome that may have been given by the Brexit vote, EU academics hoping to move to the UK now face visa fees that have been heavily criticised by vice-chancellors.
It can cost nearly £16,000 for a researcher, their partner and two children to relocate to the country, UUK warned previously.
Elsewhere, the UUK report confirms that 605,130 international students were enrolled with UK higher education providers in 2020-21, apparently hitting the 600,000 target set by the Westminster government a decade early.
Drug users and addicts no longer have excuses not to seek treatment with the commissioning of a modern 24/7 call centre set up to attend to Nigerians from all parts of the country, the Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd.), said on Thursday.
Marwa, according to a statement by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, spoke at the inauguration of the NDLEA call centre with a toll-free helpline manned by professionals and experts in counselling, psychotherapy, psychology and psychiatry among others in Abuja.
He said, “The provision of this toll-free helpline is a milestone in our resolve to broaden access to quality health care for drug users in the country. This has become a necessity and a strategic intervention in our determined effort to bring under control the increasing cases of drug use disorder and related health concerns.”
Marwa said that although the country has treatment centres, while NDLEA has 26 treatment facilities across its commands, they are nevertheless grossly inadequate in the face of statistics of drug users and those suffering from drug use disorder.
He said, “The NDLEA recognised the importance of providing a safety bubble for users who ordinarily cannot access the conventional treatment services at established rehabilitation centres due to poverty, social stigma and the resultant discrimination attached to being an identified drug user in society, among other factors. Therefore, the inevitability and the utility of a toll-free helpline that guarantees anonymity, confidentiality and safety, as a motivation for those in need of health help to freely seek such.
“The NDLEA Call Centre is manned by a team of licensed and credible clinical psychologists, counsellors, support workers and mental health professionals who would provide the needed support in aiding recovery, managing social and emotional problems, improving quality of life and enhancing performance and productivity of the users of the service. With its state-of-the-art equipment and its team of highly trained professionals in substance abuse disorder, this centre offers a teletherapy service according to global best practices.
Call Centre
“The benefit of the Call Centre is manifolds. Aside from helping us in providing telephone-based psychosocial support and addiction services in the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), it will at the same time provide us with information that will deepen our understanding of the country’s dynamics of drug use and potentially put us ahead of the game.
“To those in need of help, we open a new chapter today, whereby help is just a phone call away. We have simplified the helpline service by making it language-sensitive whereby callers have a choice of language including English, Pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
“And very importantly, the helpline is open 24/7. A call to the helpline, 0800 1020 3040, elicits a prompt response from professionals, regardless of the time or geographic location.
“The calls open the door to engagements with counsellors, followed by service orientation that leads to case management, at which point the engagement moves from telephone assessment to follow-up therapy sessions and referral.
“This seamless process ends in Resolution and Aftercare Follow-Up. Given the simplicity of the process, there is no valid excuse for not accessing treatment by drug users and their concerned families. We expect those concerned to take advantage of this opportunity.”
In their remarks at the event, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN represented by the Director of Public Prosecution of the federation, Muhammed Abubakar; UNODC country representative, Oliver Stolpe and European Union delegation representative, Eleni Zerzerlidou commended the NDLEA for the initiative, called for its expansion and sustenance.
The Chief Executive of the company managing the centre, Primly Services Ltd, Dr. Vincent Udenze commended Marwa for providing the leadership that made the initiative a reality.
The Federal Government has launched the revised guidelines and tools for Maternal Perinatal and Child Death Surveillance and Response.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who is the Chairman of the steering committee, also inaugurated a Technical Working Group for the first Bi-Annual Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Adolescent and Elderly Health plus Nutrition (RMNCAEH+N), multi-stakeholder partnership coordination platform.
The MPDSR is an intervention for improving maternal, perinatal, and neonatal survival.
Ehanire restated the commitment of the Federal Government to improve maternal, perinatal, and neonatal morbidity and to learn lessons that would help the country avert future occurrences.
”The initiative has been expanded to incorporate child mortality audit, making it now MPCDSR.
“The enabling bill has been passed by the National Assembly and is awaiting Presidential assent.
“These developments are what informed the launch today of the revised guidelines and tools for MPCDSR and inauguration of the Steering Committee,” he said.
Members of the committee are the Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Chair, House Committee on Health, Commissioners of Health of RMNCAEH+N States, and Heads of Departments of FMoH.
Others are Family Health; Hospital Services; Public Health; Health Planning, Research, and Statistics; Food and Drugs Services; and ICT, amongst many other stakeholders,” he said.
He explained that the committee will serve for four years.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire
The minister said that the committee will also provide oversight on MPCDSR nationwide, support knowledge management, documentation, and research and Give support to the state MPDSR steering committee in the implementation of MPDSR plans and programmes.
Ehanire said that an analysis of bottlenecks indicated a need to examine the coordination architecture at strategic and technical levels and reposition the National Reproductive Health Technical Working Group to address the thematic areas of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights against this backdrop.
He said the ministry was resolute in ensuring that women had safe pregnancy and delivery services.
“April 11, was set aside as the Global Safe Motherhood Day, so we will use this forum to join in commemorating safe motherhood.
”Safe motherhood arose from the concerted effort of the pregnant woman, her family, the community, and health personnel at all levels of care, to ensure the safety of mothers during pregnancy, delivery, and afterward.
“By this definition, all members of society play a role. We know that a major factor in maternal mortality is the delay in reaching a health facility.
“The National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System will be launched and piloted in FCT, to mitigate barriers and facilitate prompt access for patients in need of urgent medical attention without the demand for payment at the point of care.
“This service will be expanded to other states to make it available to pregnant women in Nigeria,” he said.
He said that one ugly complication from the failure of safety and timely delivery was obstetric fistula, the devastating injury to women, of which up to 90 per cent of deliveries end in stillbirth.
“Nigeria has an estimated prevalence rate of about 150,000 cases with 12,000 new cases recorded yearly.
”At the ministry of health, our key role is the provision of leadership and strategic direction as well as creating an enabling environment for the technical delivery of RMNCAEH+N,” he said.
The minister said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, FMoH has developed several policies and strategic documents to respond to these challenges, however, there would be no noticeable change if these instruments were not adequately disseminated and implemented.
“Given our socio-demographic diversity, some of these policies will also need state-level adaptation.
“I, therefore, give this solemn call to our partners and the leadership of state governments to:
“Give these policies maximum dissemination and visibility.
“Prioritise adaptation and adoption of these policy instruments; Aggressively advocate for and promote the implementation of these policies; and Monitor implementation of these policies,” he said.
NAN reports that the policy instruments are the National Child Health Policy, 2022 Revision: First published in 2006, Maternal Perinatal and Child Deaths Surveillance and Response (MPCDSR) Guidelines and Toolkits 2022 Revision: First published in 2015.
Others are the National RMNCAEH+N COVID-19 Response Continuity Plan, The National Strategy Plan of Action for Nutrition (NSPAN) 2021-2025, and the Media Engagement Strategy for Health Promotion in Nigeria. 2021-2025.
NAN reports that in 2013, the World Health Organisation launched the MDSR guidance to strengthen notification, review, and response to maternal deaths.
This guide, the WHO said, emphasises the need for each maternal death to be a notifiable event and reviewed to be able to understand the underlying causes to create a response mechanism to avert future deaths; a continuous cycle of surveillance and response.
Researchers in the United States have developed a new experimental technology that can repair and also regenerate heart muscle cells after a heart attack.
The researchers at the University of Houston in Texas in a recent study said the new technology could become a game-changer in saving lives of heart attack patients.
They disclosed that the technology has only been tested on mice.
They, however, noted that it could be a life-saving treatment for heart attack sufferers if it produces the same results in humans.
The technology, the researchers said, uses synthetic messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) to send DNA sequences that the body will use to build the proteins that can revive cell replication process as well as replace dead cells in the heart with new ones.
According to the findings from the study already published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Aging, the combination of using mmRNA encoding SRF153 and YAP-5SA could become a powerful clinical strategy for treating human heart disease.
A Professor at the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston, who was part of the study, Dr. Robert Schwartz said, “No one has been able to do this to this extent and we think it could become a possible treatment for humans.”
A transcription factor protein known as the Serum response factor is essential for cell replication and when it interacts with other cofactors such as NKX2-5 and GATA4, can give cardiac-specific gene activity, the researchers said.
Also, the mutant YAP-5SA affects cardiomyocyte proliferation and growth which means organ growth and replication.
To test their theory, the researchers used the mRNAs technology to conduct an experimental treatment by administering a mutated version of SRF known as Stemin, together with YAP-5SA to a living mice cardiomyocyte cell line.
The study said, “We hypothesised that disruption of interactions of SRF with NKX2-5 and GATA4 would lead to dedifferentiation of cardiomyocytes to a proliferative stem cell state and complement YAP-5SA to generate undifferentiated cardiomyocytes in a more primitive replicative state.”
The in vivo study which comprised living rats that had suffered a mouse heart attack in a separate study revealed that 24 hours after injecting Stemin and YAP5SA into the left ventricles or the mice, over a 15-fold increase in cardiomyocyte nuclei was detected.
Dr. Schwartz said, “When both transcription factors were injected into infarcted adult mouse hearts, the results were stunning.
“The lab found cardiac myocytes multiplied quickly within a day, while hearts over the next month were repaired to near normal cardiac pumping function with little scarring.”
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