₦airaland Forum

By Chukwuma Muanya on August 10, 2015



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Benefits of proposed sale, by ministry
LUTHLUTH
IF the Federal Government goes ahead with plans it has so far made, apex public health institutions like the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu, University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, among others, will be put up for sale or rather privatisation, soon.

But health workers have rejected such plans. Last week, they, excluding medical doctors, petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the plans to privatise the health sector and vowed to resist what they have called “a version of reforms in healthcare that are self-serving in terms of their narrow commercial interests and those of foreign pay-masters.”

The plan by the Federal Government to ‘sell’ public health institutions was confirmed in a document prepared by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) in November 2014 titled “Recommendations for a National Policy on Incentivising Healthcare Investments.”

Because of the success recorded by reforms in the telecom, energy and banking sectors, advocates of the sale option believe it will bring in additional private capital that will encourage better quality care at the lowest cost and improved benefits to all stakeholders in the sector.

That in turn, according to them, would guarantee an economic imperative to invest into healthcare for a healthier population.

It will also stem the pressure on the naira from foreign capital flight due to outward bound medical tourism.

The health workers under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU)/Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA) alleged that the health sector is one of those sectors placed under the supervision of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and that six doctors including agents of Western donor agencies in Lagos State that championed the commercialisation of health facilities were charged with the responsibility of crafting the health policy of the Buhari administration.

The health workers said one of the key recommendations of the six-man committee was to canvass a ‘‘reform of the Federal Ministry of Health and reduce the number of agencies from 14 to three based on alignment of scope and deliverables.’’

The health workers had alleged that the Buhari administration has sought views and position papers on healthcare agenda from strange templates, especially a particular group of entrepreneurs in healthcare rather than the true representatives of healthcare providers who are well structured into various healthcare professional associations and trade unions.

They further alleged that the pecuniary motives of the entrepreneurs in healthcare who belong to an array of professions and background remain an inclination to access funds provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). “They plan to lord their concept of privatisation and commercialisation on the health sector, notwithstanding the damaging effects it will bring to consumers of health services and the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is apt to put on record that the operatives of International Finance Corporation who are citizens of Nigeria have no respect for our laws,” they said.

The health workers added: “They insist on a version of reforms in healthcare that are self-serving in terms of their narrow commercial interests and those of their foreign pay-masters.

“The team has been canvassing the agenda of bringing foreign chain retail promoters in pharmacy practice into Nigeria for instance.”

The health workers warned that foreign company domination prevents Nigeria from building capacity through Nigerian providers.

They called on Buhari to redress the impending damage the re-structuring of healthcare sector will occasion, in the public interest by directing appropriate quarters to embrace rational and home grown-initiatives to tackle challenges in the health sector.

Proposed benefits of planned ‘sale’ by FMoH

According to the document, the incentives being proposed will specifically impact the healthcare sector through: Improving healthcare delivery infrastructure within the sector; improving access to medical technology necessary for the practice of modern evidence-based medicine; increasing the level of technical skills within the industry, (public and private sector) through trainings, re-trainings, quality assurance and improvement programmes, certifications, investments in medical technology among others.

It would also create new opportunities for employment and growth within and outside the sector, especially for women and the youth. These opportunities would include: providing logistics; home and hospice care; clinical and non-clinical roles; information technology (IT) and health information management; research and development; diagnostics support personnel and preventative care promotion among others.
X-ray of private-sector healthcare investments

According to the document, the Federal Government has facilitated rapid diagnostic surveys on private-sector healthcare investments, with a view to expanding these initiatives, and some of the constraints identified include the difficulty in accessing growth capital; the high cost of doing business; the general lack of market information; the fragmented nature of the sector; a difficult business climate; restrictive fiscal policies; burdensome regulations and limited business/financial knowledge amongst health care delivery business owners.

It reads: “Consequent to this, the Federal Government mobilised private-sector-led approaches to expanding access of patients to quality healthcare, with a view to leveraging on the unique strengths inherent to the private sector including competition and efficiency. This approach is even more relevant in recent times as government funding to the healthcare sector continues to decline, both in real terms and as a percentage of Total Health Expenditure. The era of a government-dominated sector, with central control of health care service provision is gradually coming to an end and the private sector needs to be positioned and strengthened to plug the resultant gaps.

“Nigeria’s current population of about 160 million is estimated to increase to 200 million by 2020, which is then projected to double in another 30 years. Aside from providing much needed healthcare to its citizens, growing the sector will also translate to massive employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, for both skilled and unskilled labour.

“This incentives programme aims to focus on improving investments into the healthcare sector through strategic partnerships across all levels of government (Federal, State and Local), the private sector, development partners, donor organisations as well as development finance institutions and other financial institutions.

“It shifts the current healthcare industry focus from healthcare as a social programme of the government to a healthcare industry focused on service delivery and quality of care centred around the patient with robust participation of the private sector.

“Investing into healthcare will yield immediate benefits in the form of stemming the pressure on the naira from foreign capital flight due to outward bound medical tourism, as well as positive returns on investment and social capital for the private sector and the population.”
Nigeria and poor health financing

The document argues that Nigeria has had a steady rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the last decade annualised at 6.8 per cent per year and is now Africa’s largest economy (National Bureau of Statistics 2014).

Unfortunately, all of this has not translated into shared prosperity nor has it produced a reduction in extreme poverty. Despite the Federal Government’s commitment to improving healthcare delivery to its citizens, health outcomes continue to be sub-optimal with poor quality healthcare services and insufficient financial risk protection. In addition, infrastructural challenges, human resource constraints, a fragmented system and a lack of investment into the sector continue to haunt the healthcare sector.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/08/crisis-looms-over-plans-to-sell-luth-uch-abuth-others/

Oba waja, RIP Olubuse eri ogun, Iku baba yeye, alase ekeji orisa,jingbininkin bi ate akun, wiwo lule bi ate ileke, O sun omo sile sun omo seni, o sun omo sile sun omo saso.

I am a member of the Church and I will tell you that the problem on that highway is as they say on the street, 'no be today e don tey' . It is a result of government recklessness and irresponsibility. Recklessness in the sense of approving the purchase of hectares and hectares of land by various churches with many I mean mega population within the same neighborhood ( MFM, DLCF,FOURSQUARE, NASFAT AND RCCG). Irresponsibility in the sense of not maintaining the highway and not developing the railway mass transit. A train could convey at least 60-70 mass transit buses volume of passengers at one time, if the government had developed the railway transport and there is one station at berger in Lagos and another one very near the mega-camps, it will reduce the stress on the road.
Another dimension to the issue is the Omoniles, there was a time that RCCG wanted to construct a link road between Mowe( the village directly in front of the RCCG camp). The road is strategic in the sense that if you are coming from Ibadan or Shagam, you don't need to take the express-way, Just go over the bridge, take the road in front the Nestle factory, enter into the villages, follow the road and you come out back to the express almost at the main gate of the Redemption camp, you spend like 1minute on the express turn at car-pack C and enter into the Camp. Long story short, the omoniles said no unless they are settled. There is another road that link the camp with Ikorodu called Ogijo road, if this road is fixed it will ease the stress and craze on the highway.
Hardly would you find worshippers parking on the road, so you can't blame the church. It is unfortunate but true that even when the new express construction is completed, the problem could still persist because millions of people moving in one direction within one week is not cheap bean. I once spent 7 hours between Lagos and Osun last year, it is pathetic,we all need to find alternative solution.
The church could do better by putting pressure on the government to do right thing and also involve the government to resolve the omonile palaver.

Second story, Ori okere koko lawo, bawi fun omo eni a gbo.
Okay this is the story of the mother squirrel, the baby squirrel and the palm fruit.
Ti Iya okere ba ti ji ni owuro, a so fun omo okere pe ti o bari eyo eyin kansoso mama mu, ti tori pe o lee je ise omo ode.
Lowuro ojo kan ojo kan, omo okere gbera nile, odi inu igbe, lo bari eyo eyin kan soso leba ona, sugbon o ti gbagbe imoran iya okere. Omo okere ba ki eyo eyin naa mole loba di pau, o ko si pakute omo ode.
Omo ode mu omo okere de ile, o fi ori e pata, o fi edo re ro efo. Igba to jeun ti o yo bamu. O mu Atari omo okere, o fi na awo ijeun, o ni Ori okeke koko lawo ba ba wi fun omo eni agbo.

Each morning when the mother squirrel wakes up she will tell the baby squirrel that as you go out today, if you pass by the palm tree and you see a lonely palm fruit, do not pick, it could be the handiwork of a hunter, just climb up the tree and pluck a fresh palm fruit when you are hungry.
On a very fateful day the baby squirrel went out on his own and saw one lonely palm fruit by the way side, he forgot the advice of the mother squirrel completely, jumped on the palm fruits and before you say jack, that sound from the hunter's trap. The hunter got home prepare a very delicious meal with the baby squirrel and at the end of the meal, he hit the skull of the baby squirrel on the plate and sang, this is the head of a disobedient child, when a elder advises the younger ones should listen.

Great.

I was born in the village. I could recall those days that after dinner we will all sit by the stone-made tripod stove called Aaro, and Grand-ma will give us stories and stories till our eyes got dim and we will be taken to bed.
Last week, My boss retold another story that I have heard before, I believe Grand-ma has told me this story before.
There was a man in a long distance village who had four animals as pet, namely a cow, a pig, a goat and a chicken. The man is deemed wealthy for having all these animals to himself. But there came a time that he got an unwanted guest, guess what- a rat. The rat came into his household and his life changed, because the rat would eat everything meant for the other animals, ( this reminds me of nowadays tom & Jerry). He asked his friends how he could get rid of this menace in his home and he was told to just go the market on the market day and procure a rat trap.
On the next market day, the man went and he procured a very strong rat trap and a very juicy, difficult to ignore bait. On getting home, he set the trap with the bait delicately balanced on it under his bed along the route often traversed by the rat, The rat saw the trap and knew something was amiss so he called a meeting with the other animals in the house, he told them, this man has gotten a big trap set under his bed, what are we going to do about it ?. Other animals ignored him knowing fully well that the trap was meant for the rat and not for them.

On a very fateful night, the man was asleep on his bed, when he heard the trap snapped 'pekee', he jumped up with joy, with sleep in his eyes he reached for the trap under the bed without looking because he believed the trap caught the rat, but he was jolted back to reality when he received a sharp bite on his hands. Why a snake strayed into his room and saw the juicy bait and was caught by the trap, so the snake was half-dead and you know a half-dead snake (Ageku-ejo) is more venomous than a life snake.

Well, the man became sick and he was taken to the babalawo ( diviner) for divination and healing, babalawo consulted Ifa and said he could be healed but he would need one akuko gagara ( one big rooster), obuko ti eyin re gba igba, ( a big goat) and some amount of money to buy other materials ( like condiments and soup ingredients ). His relations went home, in the evening the rooster came home and was arrested with the goat. Following day the pig was taken to the slaughter slab ( now called abbatoir) for sale to raise money for the other materials as stipulated by the Babalawo.
In the end, divination didn't work, the man died. He was to be buried so the family resolved that the cow should be killed for the burial ceremony. So the rat survived all of them.
Moral of the story,
Team work rocks, the animals should have joined hands with the rat to find ways of neutralizing the trap, they didn't envisaged the ripple effect of the trap.
Always look at the bigger picture.
When trouble starts, the underling might survive instead of the strong and mighty.
Look before you leap, like that man, many ewe iwoyi ( young dudes of nowadays) dipping their hands in holes they cannot see through, someone says as a rule of the thumb, Never put your fingers where you cannot put your tongue.

ideatoprince18:
..............please what is d name of this fish.......are they sharks?

I think there are Red snappers @ 3:0 clock , followed by baby barracudas and then Carps ?( not so sure, 'cos carps are fresh water fishes).

Uunhm, Our (Nigerian) waterways need good management like this to make way for free flow water drainage from towns and villages and enhance increased usage of water transport. Meanwhile I believe this governor is set to work, I also believe the peer review mechanism should be brought back to NGF to encourage other governors to begin to work. No disrespect to Ekiti people #show me no palmie, show me the projects.

Good old days when officers were men and men come in normal trim and brain to match.

This is a good development if it is followed with reorganization, Now DSS should be discreet, secret and intelligence driven.

JeffreyJamez:
For CGI purposes.

Oh okay, thanks.

Please pardon my ignorance folks, why do the real scenes have green screens ?.

True, My take on the story. Never judge others for the way they walk, 'cos you don't know the weight of their shoes, Probably if you were in their shoes you will walk the same way.

Gin, Peel, Leg, Ping.
Nigeria

Nativity

Love this on 29th of May.

justicesky24:
Nigerian

I saw this on CNN and several thought flashed through my head. Was this a real honest mistake or something else that could jeopardize the world's health, the whole is just recovering from the effect of Ebola and I don't think it is fair on humanity to release another deadly material. It could be a mistake but it is one that is very unexpected of the respected, well disciplined US military/DOD.

Washington (CNN)—Four lab workers in the United States and up to 22 overseas have been put in post-exposure treatment after the U.S. military inadvertently shipped live anthrax samples via FedEx, a defense official told CNN.

CNN learned on Wednesday that a Maryland-based lab had received live samples, prompting an across-the-board urgent review to see whether any other live anthrax has been shipped.

The live anthrax samples were sent via FedEx, according to a Defense Department official. The shipments, thought to be dead, were shipped under less rigorous conditions than the live agent protocol.

By mid-Thursday morning, there was conflicting information about when the samples were shipped and where they landed.

Officials are concerned because samples left over at the lab in Dugway, Utah, where the samples originated, were tested and determined to contain live agent.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/27/politics/live-anthrax-us-military-sent-inadvertently/

Nnewi

The cat is climbing the stairs. Looking at the background behind the cat, it looks more like a floor rather than a wall or any other structure which would be the case were the cat to be coming down the stairs.

Gadgetry.

Raxxye:
Sometimes it's better to drive past than do what some so-called helpers and sympathizers do to the victims; carrying them like a bag of garbage, thereby worsening the victims' conditions!
Just look at the way the men in the picture are carrying that woman without any support for her head. smh!

Emotions apart, many sympathizers add more to the injured plight while moving or attending to them. National orientation agency needs to do more in informing the populace about the role of a passer-by during emergency. If you are not a medic or paramedic, first thing you should do on encountering an accident is to call for help). What could have been done differently, the speaker should have through the assembly enacts law to provide free and wide-spread emergency services with well equipped ambulance services around the state ( I know that the state has ambulances stationed at some locations, the nearest ambulance locations to the scene of that accident are Abeokuta and Ibafo) when he got to the scene, he could have stopped and ensure that his security details maintain law and order by barricading the scene, then he could call for FRSC. If he has ambulance in his convoy the medic on it could start on-scene triage and attending to victims. RIP to the casualties, may God grant their families solace.

Cheriepet:
Rice, pit,
cite


Changed

Can, Den, Dean, Hen , Hang.

chigoizie7:
Well spoken, but ur 1st paragraph cught my attention, water has nothing to do with a computer system, they re not in the same body.

*why not use a vehicle "fuel pump and the engine" ?

Thanks, it was just an analogy. I quoted BlackPen' though. it was his post.

chigoizie7:
I tot the heart also send blood to the brain. The duo work concurrently.

Even this is subjective, the blood as we know it does really reach the brain as blood, it's just the constituents, glucose, oxygen and amino acid that reach the brain cells.

ILIDEFI:
Op asked for the one that doesn't rest, is the busiest and most hardworking, and not the most important or the one we can't do without.
Considering his question, I give it to the heart.

Now check out this link:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_death

Take note of this statement:

"Note that brain electrical activity can stop completely, or drop to such a low level as to be undetectable with most equipment. An EEG will therefore be flat, though this is sometimes also observed during deep anesthesia or cardiac arrest."

cc Soknown

Let's talk about being hard-working. What does the heart do, it receives blood from veins through-out the body send blood to the lungs for oxygen, send blood to the liver to receive glucose and other things and pump to all part of the body, it does this 24/7 non-stop( broadly speaking) through-out lifetime.
What does the brain do, it receives impulses from all parts of the body, process the information, interprets and send information back to the body or store them as the case may be. Can we count how many impulses ( internal and external) the brain gets and process every seconds of the day. It does all these seamlessly through-out lifetime. Honestly with all the Million terabyte of information processed and possessed by the brain. and as I said earlier it lives longer than the heart. #Brain all the way.

BlackPeni5:
The brain doesn't rest, it is always busy and it is the most hard working because it does the most work. Now let me ask you, between a water pump and a computer , which one is doing more work...


In relation to brain death why didn't you post everything..
Brain death is the complete and irreversible loss of brain function (including involuntary activity necessary to sustain life).[1][2][3][4] Brain death is one of the two ways of determination of death, according to the Uniform Determination of Death Actof the United States (the other way of determining death being "irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions".[5] It is not the same as persistent vegetative state, in which the person is "alive".

Brain death is used as an indicator of legal death in many jurisdictions, but it isdefined inconsistently. Various parts of the brain may keep living when others die, and the term "brain death" has been used to refer to various combinations. For example, although a major medical dictionary[which?] says that "brain death" is synonymous with "cerebral death" (death of the cerebrum), the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) system defines brain death as including the brainstem. The distinctions can be important because, for example, in someone with a dead cerebrum but a living brainstem, the heartbeat and ventilation can continue unaided, whereas in whole-brain death (which includes brain stem death), only life support equipment would keep those functions going. Patients classified as brain-dead can have their organs surgically removed for organ donation.

Thanks.

AlphaDray:
prof. What keeps the body alive, is it the brain, the heart or The air we breath? Cos it Seems Like you've forgotten the nose and I also know the body, that includes the brain and the heart need air

The second question is, where does air pass thru?

Prof ke ?. I attended a workshop and I got talking with another participant that is very good in mountain hiking an all that. He mentioned of a particular incident that he needed to drill a hole in the throat of another climber who couldn't breathe before the chopper rescue came, in that instance the guy was able to breath without the use of the nose or nostrils, you can breath through your mouth or a hole though the throat.

On a lighter note- the brain is the smart worker, the liver is the 'ruggedy" and the heart is the smooth operator. on a broad view both heart and brain never rest. but technically speaking they do, the heart rest for like a millisecond between each beat for it to recover from the effect of the beat while some aspect of the brain rest during sleep especially during the NREM sleep. funny enough our eyes move and work during the REM( rapid eye movement) phase of sleep. Funny enough again the brain supply stimulation to all organs but the heart also has its own internal arrangement for stimulation. When the heart dies the brain can only last few minutes (6-. After that even if the heart is revived some aspects of the brain would be gone. Brain death means the person is totally dead it's different from being in a vegetative state(when some aspect of the brain is still working). In the absence of liver on your list, the game is between the heart and the brain, based on the fact that the brain lives few minutes more than the heart. I choose BRAIN. (Google is my friend)

fashrola:
So funny that guys here be claiming innocence of the present matter just to look good in the public or get likes from the females... Well all of us might be guilty in other ways... doesn't mean the woman or lady in question to be your GF nor wife... It also involves ur female cousins, sisters, niece, classmate whilst in High school....I guess most of us are guilty of the "petty crime" .. Though sometimes females can be so annoying.. U just have to ignore them and walk away... And u gonna be the MAN OF THE YEAR

I love the concluding part of your post. Simply walk away, it could be difficult but not impossible.
The last fight I had with anybody ( as I could recall) was with a girl back in the days ( I think JSS1 or 2) I won't tell you, if I won or she won because looking back now i see it was unnecessary. As a grown up man , i have bosses that are female and sometimes they do make me bad, do i beat them ?, No. The worst i could do is to simply walk out. If i can control my anger in the office i see no reason for not controlling it at home with the woman i claim to love. Marriage is suppose to be an " at par" relationship, if i cannot beat my female colleagues in the office why would i do it at home. Anger is like a fire, when it is out of control, burning is an understatement.
Lastly with some comments i have read on this post i can conclude that many need to consult therapist before tying the knot and some that are tied should also do same or get good lawyers.

adwem2003:
Go to OLX, you will get good one there

LOL Thanks but no thanks, OLX should be a no no for any reasonable person. seriously speaking, do you have any tip, advice on the topic.

Hello Nairalanders, I create this thread to rub minds on the security tips one need to employ before employing the house-help. You will agree with me that cases of children being abducted by people paid to look after them is now in boom. I pray the three children just abducted from Surulere are returned to the safe hands of the parents un-hurt. I love looking for answers when life throws a puzzle. The new puzzle is, dad n mum have to go to work, children cannot be left alone on their own thus the services of a house-help.
A little Background info, I was discussing with a friend last week about his teenage house-help, I asked if he has a hidden camera some-where around the home to monitor the house-help, he said no.
Not to bore you with stories, what are the things to consider and put in place before and after you get a house-help. Over to you security Expert in the house.

Natural weight loss stands on a tripod; Exercise, Diet and Sleep.