An international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation of French, Doctors without Borders has said it’s ready  to partner with the Kebbi State Government to deliver health services to the people of the state.

The Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu received the team, led by their Head of Mission, Dr Shaukat Muttaqi, at Government House, Birnin Kebbi.

While receiving the team, at the Government House Birnin Kebbi on behalf of the Governor, the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Sulaiman Muhammad Argungu, welcomed the Doctors and expressed happiness about the readiness of the mission to sign an MOU and partnership with the government.

He assured the team that Kebbi State Government would provide an enabling environment for the mission to operate accordingly for optimal performance.

Head of Mission Dr Shaukat Muttaqi explained that their visit was to discuss medical services related to nutritional program and Integrated Community Case Management (ICCM) in a local government area of Kebbi state MSF.

Muttaqi said that the Doctors without Borders intends to start a ten-bed Inpatient therapeutic feeding centre (ITFC)/stabilisation unit with two Ambulatory Therapeutic feeding centres (ATFCs) in Maiyama local government with ICCM services and also provision for IDPs in other LGAs related to environmental health.

According to him, Doctors without Borders are committed to providing free cost medical services to the people of Kebbi state in its initial six-month programme and looking forward to an agreement with the Ministry of Health and Kebbi State to start activities as soon as possible.

He disclosed that their team, which is an International Medical Humanitarian Organization are operating in eight states of Nigeria provides primary, secondary and tertiary health care with quick response to outbreaks.

He added: “Already the team has visited Augie, Maiyama, Shanga, Bagudo, Zuru and Dank Wasagu local government areas during the initial assessment. We are in over 70 countries of the world and we have been in Nigeria for more than 20 years providing support and health services free of charge to Nigerians.

“The team also visited the Commissioner for Health Alhaji Jafar Muhammad Zuru and the Executive Secretary Kebbi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Abubakar Abdullahi Ka’oje, Director Public Health Mr Abubakar Bagudo,” he said.

The community pharmacist has warned Nigerians against the indiscriminate use of paracetamol, noting that it could damage the liver and kidney.

This was disclosed by a pharmaceutical scientist, Tony Oyawole, on Wednesday. He further said that, people engaging in the indiscriminate use of paracetamol are also at increased risk of blood cancer.

The community pharmacist, urged Nigerians to refrain from self-prescription of the pain killer, noting that using it indiscriminately can cause serious health problems.

He said while paracetamol is a simple drug, it is also a very dangerous when not used according to prescription.

“The over dosage of paracetamol can affect the liver and kidney. So, if it affects the liver and kidney and somebody who is already having an issue with liver and kidney is being subjected to over dosage of the drug, it could be lethal because those organs can be compromised.

“That is why it is advised that it should be taken strictly the way it was prescribed” Pharm Oyawole said.

Oyawole further stated that taking paracetamol indiscriminately could also make the abuser of the drug to be more susceptible to blood cancers.

“When you say a chronic paracetamol user, you mean people who take paracetamol at any little pain for maybe what he perhaps needs a little rest for.

“It can become a habit to such extent that the person takes it daily or routinely. This is not advisable. Ideally, paracetamol is supposed to be taken three times or at most not more than four times a day according to the prescription.

“But when you have a situation where you are taking paracetamol five or six times a day, it is engaging the liver and subjecting the kidney to untold hardship,” Oyawole said.

The Nasarawa State Government in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) with funding support from the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (U.S.-PMI) is set to distribute 2,060,000 insecticide treated nets.

State Commissioner of Health pharm. Ahmed Yahaya, started this in Lafia at a one-day media parley for 2022 campaign for mass distribution of insecticide treated nets.

The Commissioner added that provision of quality and affordable healthcare services is one of the topmost priority of Governor Abdullahi Sule-led administration.

He explained that the state government is determined to partner with any organisation toward ensuring better healthcare services in line with global best practice.

Yahaya said based on studies and facts, mosquitoes, carrier of Malaria, can only be tackled if people sleep under the insecticide treated nets properly and consistently.

He added that the government had already trained personnel’s at the Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the state level preparetory to mass distribution of the nets.

The Commissioner added that personnel from the ministry would commence registration and issuance of cards to household across the 13 LGAs on January 20 to 28.

He also said that after the registration, the distribution of the nets would commence from February 7-15, 2022.

He, therefore, promised that ministry would put machinery in place to ensure that the nets were effectively distributed to every household.

Speaking, Director Public Health in the Nasarawa State ministry of health Dr. Ibrahim Alhassan, said the media parley was aimed at building the capacities of media professionals on technicality involved in passing effective messages toward eliminating Malaria.

He said it would assist in informing the public on the distribution of the nets and the necessity to use them properly when collected.

The Director Public Health said the prevalent rate of Malaria in the state had dropped from 47 per cent in 2015 to 14 per cent in 2018 as a result of combined efforts and support from the media.

He added that malaria is not just a health challenge, but also an economic matter, as it has led to loss of lives and resources that could have been use for other purposes.

He expressed gratitude to the media for their support over the years, adding that the media had contributed immensely in reducing Malaria from being a leading health challenge in the country.

Also, Technical Team Lead on Insecticide Treated Nets Campaign in the state, Kingsley Godson, said the state government and partners were spending huge amount of money in procurement of the nets and distributed free.

He explained that the ITN were procured at the cost N2.98 billion to be distributed to every household in the state.

Godson said that technological devices would be deployed to generate data, track nets and net cards as well as personnel in the field to ensure effective distribution.

He said that a total of 9,548 personnel would be engaged and trained for the exercise in the state.

Godson, therefore, urged the people to make use of the nets when distributed to them to justify the huge investment.

The Nasarawa State Government in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) with funding support from the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (U.S.-PMI) is set to distribute 2,060,000 insecticide treated nets.

State Commissioner of Health pharm. Ahmed Yahaya, started this in Lafia at a one-day media parley for 2022 campaign for mass distribution of insecticide treated nets.

The Commissioner added that provision of quality and affordable healthcare services is one of the topmost priority of Governor Abdullahi Sule-led administration.

He explained that the state government is determined to partner with any organisation toward ensuring better healthcare services in line with global best practice.

Yahaya said based on studies and facts, mosquitoes, carrier of Malaria, can only be tackled if people sleep under the insecticide treated nets properly and consistently.

He added that the government had already trained personnel’s at the Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as the state level preparetory to mass distribution of the nets.

The Commissioner added that personnel from the ministry would commence registration and issuance of cards to household across the 13 LGAs on January 20 to 28.

He also said that after the registration, the distribution of the nets would commence from February 7-15, 2022.

He, therefore, promised that ministry would put machinery in place to ensure that the nets were effectively distributed to every household.

Speaking, Director Public Health in the Nasarawa State ministry of health Dr. Ibrahim Alhassan, said the media parley was aimed at building the capacities of media professionals on technicality involved in passing effective messages toward eliminating Malaria.

He said it would assist in informing the public on the distribution of the nets and the necessity to use them properly when collected.

The Director Public Health said the prevalent rate of Malaria in the state had dropped from 47 per cent in 2015 to 14 per cent in 2018 as a result of combined efforts and support from the media.

He added that malaria is not just a health challenge, but also an economic matter, as it has led to loss of lives and resources that could have been use for other purposes.

He expressed gratitude to the media for their support over the years, adding that the media had contributed immensely in reducing Malaria from being a leading health challenge in the country.

Also, Technical Team Lead on Insecticide Treated Nets Campaign in the state, Kingsley Godson, said the state government and partners were spending huge amount of money in procurement of the nets and distributed free.

He explained that the ITN were procured at the cost N2.98 billion to be distributed to every household in the state.

Godson said that technological devices would be deployed to generate data, track nets and net cards as well as personnel in the field to ensure effective distribution.

He said that a total of 9,548 personnel would be engaged and trained for the exercise in the state.

Godson, therefore, urged the people to make use of the nets when distributed to them to justify the huge investment.