Global Digital Store – Ebooks and Softwares

Tag: Doctors

Petri Dish Detention By Mohammed Ibraheem Zakzaky

The world is gripped in the Coronavirus reality and the immense panic and disruption it brings along with it. This virulent scourge has cut a path less trodden by viruses, as it infects and spreads with little regard for all the norms of red tape that has allowed the murder and official disappearance of many, including my six brothers. By the time it begins to execute those whose death sentences it has written and signed it is always 10 steps ahead on the paperwork. That is almost eight steps ahead of professionals like Buhari.

The virus is a near perfect beta of a doomsday virus. Even the most hard-line sceptics have ended up dumbfound by just how profoundly serious Covid-19 is as a survivalist organism that is here to accomplish its apocalyptic mission. Though many medical experts have since been pressured, pressed and forced to promise a vaccine and possible cure within the next few months to a year; the truth is that the threat is clearly unprecedented.

In my case I went to sleep in a world where my priority was to deliver food and medical aid to my parents in Kaduna Prison; only to wake up and realize that there was an even larger number of factors in play. I slept knowing full well that it was an uphill battle against the entire regime of Major-General-Buhari and his army of punitive henchmen; to all of a sudden be confronted by a Diablo ex-Machina; courtesy of the novel corona virus AKA Covid-19.

Now all visits to prison by anyone and everyone were effectively and strictly forbidden. I understood and reasoned that it was the proper measure to prevent contagion of this clearly deadly disease. The last thing I would want is to be a part of what makes my already sickly parents sicker; or worse.

In spite of the fact that I had completed all arrangements to have doctors visit both my parents in Kaduna Prison, in order to provide them with relief for their existing medical conditions due to age and a plethora of wounds they sustained during the attack and subsequent ransacking of our home by the Nigerian Army. All of which have all gone untreated during the past five years.

I still thought and reasoned that a quarantine of the entire area was the best measure possible in the short term, considering the existing circumstances. As a result of this I made all the necessary apologies to cancel appointments with all the doctors and hospitals, to ensure that the quarantine in Kaduna Prison will hold and be maintained. I then did all in my power to send masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, soap and vitamins. All in an effort to stay safe and keep everyone safe.

I have now since been jolted out of the stupor of perceived safety by terrible news. There has been a violent incident inside Kaduna Prison, which has rendered my memory of the Zaria Massacre of 2015 raw. As the harrowing sounds of another rampage of gun fire was heard from Kaduna Prison, where my parents are currently being detained.

All my frantic calls to the Controller of Prisons and his deputy were not answered, as the sounds of gun fire continued to rage. All my efforts to learn what was really going on failed. I have however been able to learn a few things through the few answered calls. All of them agree on the following.

1.      There has been a surge of Covid-19 symptomatic prisoners in Kaduna Prison.

2.      Staff of the prison clinic have been avoiding three symptomatic prisoners particularly.

3.      Three of them were removed and one was returned on Tuesday.

4.      A number of Prisoners strongly objected to the re-introduction of the prisoners.

5.      The prison staff tried to calm things down by trying to reason with them.

6.      The Prison’s armed squad were then deployed, to supress an alleged prison break.

7.      After a period of automatic fire in the air and on target, calm was restored.

8.      The prisoners suspected of Covid-19 are among those reported shot and killed.

9.      Bullet canisters were still littered all over the place 3 hours later.

10. Many of the Kaduna prison staff are visibly injured, some with serious injuries.

11. A significant number of the injured staff were seen walking around in blood-soaked uniforms.

12. So called normalcy has been enforced, and returned at an unknown cost.

The fact remains that the highly crowded, unsanitary conditions of Kaduna Prison remains a highly contagious environment, that is no place for my vulnerable mother and father, both of whom are above 50 years of age. Both of whom are un-healthy, both of whom are suffering from an unprecedented number of health issues that have remained untreated and unattended.

Due to a determination by the regime of Heil! Major-General Buhari and his now contagious Governor El-Rufai and their army of undertakers. It is unclear what is really going on at the site of all the intense gunfire that was heard in Kaduna Prison. Aside from the above stated facts, I can say no more.

Opinion

AddThis

:

Original Author

:

Mohammed Ibraheem Zakzaky

Disable advertisements

:

Read More
http://saharareporters.com/2020/04/01/petri-dish-detention-mohammed-ibraheem-zakzaky

Views: 0

April 2, 2020
Legal Issues Arising From Management Of Covid-19 Patients By Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem

A lot of legal issues are bound to arise as an aftermath of the outbreak of Coronavirus otherwise referred to as COVID-19. There is therefore a need to shed light on some of the issues that may arise and how to navigate them. This article will x-ray the rights of patients, the rights of health workers and the basic minimum obligations of the government.

The Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria 2008 lists acts that constitute professional negligence. Rule 29.4 of the Code outlines some of these acts as follows:-

a)      Failure to attend promptly to a patient requiring urgent attention when the practitioner was in a position to do so;

b)     Manifesting incompetence in the assessment of a patient;

c)      Making an incorrect diagnosis particularly when the clinical features were so glaring that no reasonable skillful practitioner could have failed to notice them;

d)     Failure to advise, or proffering wrong advice to a patient on the risk involved in a particular operation or course of treatment, especially if such an operation or course of treatment is likely to result in serious side effects like deformity or loss of organ, or function;

e)      Failure to obtain the informed consent of the patient before proceeding on any surgical procedure or course of treatment when such consent was necessary;

f)       Making a mistake in treatment e.g. amputation of the wrong limb, carelessness that results in the termination of a pregnancy, prescribing the wrong drug, or dosage in error for a correctly diagnosed ailment, etc;

g)     Failure to refer, or transfer a patient in good time, when such a referral or transfer was necessary;

h)     Failure to do anything that ought reasonably to have been done under any circumstance for the good of the patient;

i)       Failure to see a patient as often as his medical condition warrants or to make appropriate comments in the case notes of the practitioner’s observations and prescribed treatment during such visits. It also includes failure to communicate with the patient or with his relatives as may be necessary with regards to any developments, progress or prognosis in the patient’s condition.

Rule 11.2 of the 2008 Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria provides that, “A physician shall preserve absolute confidentiality on all he knows about his patient even after the patient has died.”

             Rule 44 of the Code of Medical Ethics has extensive provisions on Confidentiality and when disclosure of information can be made. The Rule provides in part that:

“Disclosure of information on the patient by the doctor can only be made following an informed consent of the patient in writing. It is clear that the ethic covers even such information as induced abortion, venereal disease, attempted suicide, concealed birth and drug dependence but would exclude situations in which a discretionary breach of confidentiality is necessary to protect the patient or the community from danger and this must be made clear to the patient at the time of the confidential disclosure. Where statutory notification of disease is involved, the consent of the patient is not required.”

            Confidentiality: To Disclose Identity Of Covid-19 Patients Or Not To Disclose?

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people infected with the COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.[1]

The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria on the 27th of February 2020. It is the case of an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020. In reaction to the report, the social was divided between those who want the name of the Italian disclosed and those that preferred it remains confidential. The outcry was even more when the Chief of Staff to the President tested positive according to reports from various media houses[2], but the Minister of Health decided to keep mute on the identity of the President’s aide who contacted the virus, citing confidentiality.

It will ordinarily be wrong to disclose the medical status of someone infected with COVID-19, for instancethe case of the Italian who was the index case. However in view of the proviso to Rule 44 of the Code of Medical Ethics 2008 which provides that a discretionary breach of confidentiality is necessary in order to protect the community from danger, I am of the view that the test results of popular figures who hold strategic offices like the Chief of Staff to the President or a Governor must be disclosed to guaranty public safety. This is necessary in view of the countless number of people from all works of life they come in contact with on a daily basis. It will be correct to have made their status public in the overriding interest of the public, since it will enable those who have come in contact with them isolate, just like we have seen in the cases of the British Prime Minister, the Bauchi State Govenor, Prince Charles, the First Lady of Canada and many more. We must commend those who announced their status in public themselves-it is the best thing to do in the interest of humanity

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides additional guidelines for the management of coronavirus patients specifically.[3]

Health workers should:

•follow established occupational safety and health procedures, avoid exposing others to health and safety risks and participate in employer-provided occupational safety and health training;

•use provided protocols to assess, triage and treat patients;

•treat patients with respect, compassion and dignity;

•maintain patient confidentiality;

•swiftly follow established public health reporting procedures of suspect and confirmed cases;

•provide or reinforce accurate infection prevention and control and public health information, including to concerned people who have neither symptoms nor risk;

•put on, use, take off and dispose of personal protective equipment properly;

•self-monitor for signs of illness and self-isolate or report illness to managers, if it occurs;

•advise management if they are experiencing signs of undue stress or mental health challenges that require support interventions; and

•report to their immediate supervisor any situation which they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to life or health.

Doctors and health workers in Nigeria must endeavor to digest the guidelines in the Code of Medical Ethics as well as the WHO Guidelines for management of Coronavirus victims and ensure they work strictly by their provisions. A breach of these duties have dire consequences.

Options Available To Covid-19 Patients Who Are Victims Of Medical Negligence

A Coronavirus patient who has suffered medical negligence has a number of options:

1. He could file a complaint with the regulatory body (e.g. the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, in the cases involving a Doctor). The Doctor will in the first instance be investigated by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel, after which he will be tried by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. If found culpable, the Doctor may be warned, suspended from practicing for a period not exceeding 6 months or in very serious cases, have his name can be removed from the Register of Medical Practitioners. The Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal does not award monetary damages.

2. A suit can be filed against the Medical Doctor, the Hospital, Agency or Government in the High Court for Medical Negligence and monetary damages will be awarded if the Defendant(s) are found culpable.

      3. If there is an element of Crime, a report could be made to the Police who would conduct Criminal Investigation and where the investigation reveals gross negligence, recklessness or wanton disregard for life of the victim, the police can prosecute or forward the case file to the office of the Attorney General of the State for possible prosecution in deserving cases.

A Need To Do More For Doctors And Other Professionals In The Health Sector

Health workers are at the front line of any outbreak response and as such are exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection with an outbreak pathogen (in this case COVID-19). Hazards include pathogen exposure, long working hours, psychological distress, fatigue, occupational burnout, stigma, and physical and psychological violence.

During the outbreak of Ebola more than 500 health care workers died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra-Leone alone. We also lost some of our finest doctors and health workers to the disease in Nigeria, the most prominent being Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who is credited with having curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the index patient, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressures from the Liberian government. As we speak, The coronavirus is waging a war of attrition against health care workers throughout the world, but nowhere is it winning more battles at the moment than in Italy and in Spain, where protective equipment and tests have been in severely short supply for weeks. In Spain 13.6% (6500) of those affected with the coronavirus are health workers and in Italy 10% (7400) of those affected with the virus are health workers. [4] In New York dozens of health workers have been affected with the virus, while hundreds are in quarantine.[5] According to reports filtering in as the time of concluding this article, three health workers have been infected with COVID-19 in Abuja, Nigeria.[6]

Human Rights Watch research into health system collapse in Hungary and Venezuela suggests the nations’ mismanaged, underfunded, and understaffed public healthcare system is poorly equipped to handle a COVID-19 outbreak. Patients and medical experts described a lack of basic hygiene protocol, lack of isolation rooms, and a shortage of health professionals, doctors and nurses, and medical supplies in general.

The situation is not too different in Nigeria at the moment and except something drastic is done we might be witnessing a devastating effect of the pandemic. Nigeria’s, public health capacity has been diminished by large scale public sector corruption. Medical personnel lack surgical masks and local supplies have been diverted and shipped to other markets partly due to corruption. Many states are ill-prepared to combat the impeding surge in patients. A senior health worker with a government hospital in Abuja, in an interview with Sahara Reporters, lamented the lack of quality Personal Protective Equipment for them, adding that government must invest in the protection of health workers at the frontline of the battle against the virus. He said, “The unfortunate thing is that the government is not providing us with what to work with. It is sad that our PPE are not up to the world standard and can be penetrated by viruses. Some of us (health workers) have to use our personal funds to purchase gloves as we do not trust the ones government supplied. Nigerians should please remember us in their prayers and government should provide us with what we really need to work.” [7]

There was report that in Bauchi State a Coronavirus patient rejected the isolation centre at the Bauchi Specialist Hospital and went back home while describing it as “too dirty”.[8]

It is disappointing to hear that the hazard allowance for doctors and health workers is N5,000 per month in Nigeria. The amount is very paltry compared to the risks and the attendant emotional and psychological stress suffered by the health-care workers (HWCs) particularly during monumental outbreaks like this. Unfortunately, when a patient is mismanaged, these doctors and health workers bear the burden of paying huge compensation and sometimes losing their jobs. More importantly, the brain-drain in the health sector is monumental, almost all my friends who are doctors, work abroad. Unfortunately, there are concerted efforts by the US Government to engage foreign Doctors to further fortify its health work force as COVID-19 ravages. Many young Nigerian doctors are already considering the offers because the Nigerian government has paid little attention to their welfare and the welfare of the general health workforce. To stop the exodus of our doctors, who are already in short supply, the government must act fast by improving their welfare packages in line with acceptable international standards.

The psychological needs of doctors and health workers are also often ignored. Unsafe working conditions contribute to health worker attrition in many countries due to work-related illness and injury and the resulting fear of health workers of occupational infection, including from HIV and Tuberculosis. The 2006 World Health Report – Working Together for Health reported on a severe health workforce crisis in fifty-seven countries, most of them in Africa and Asia. [9]

Protecting the occupational health of health workers is critical to having an adequate workforce of trained and healthy health personnel. Governments at the Federal and State levels are urged to do more by complying fully with the World Health Organization’s guidelines regarding the Rights of Health Workers while combating COVID-19. Some of the rights are:

·         assume overall responsibility to ensure that all necessary preventive and protective measures are taken to minimize occupational safety and health risks;

·         provide information, instruction and training on occupational safety and health, including; Refresher training on infection prevention and control(IPC); and Use, putting on, taking off and disposal of personal protective equipment(PPE);

·         provide adequate IPC and PPE supplies (masks, gloves, goggles, gowns, hand sanitizer, soap and water, cleaning supplies) in sufficient quantity to healthcare or other staff caring for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients, such that workers do not incur expenses for occupational safety and health requirements;

·         not be required to return to a work situation where there is continuing orserious danger to life or health, until the employer has taken any necessary remedial action;

·         allow workers to exercise the right to remove themselves from a work situation that they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to their life or health. When a health worker exercises this right, they shall be protected from any undue consequences;

·         honour the right to compensation, rehabilitation and curative services if infected with COVID-19 following exposure in the workplace. This would be considered occupational exposure and resulting illness would be considered an occupational disease,

·         provide access to mental health and counselling resources; and

·         enable co-operation between management and workers and/or their representatives. Etc.

In conclusion, professional care givers for COVID-19 patients should uphold four basic principles formulated by Beauchamp and Childress in their book ‘Principles of Biomedical Ethics’ in order to protect themselves from liability for negligence. The four basic principles are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice.

Autonomy: People have the right to control what happens to their bodies. This principle simply means that an informed, competent adult patient can refuse or accept treatments, drugs, and surgeries according to their wishes. People have the right to control what happens to their bodies because they are free and rational. And these decisions must be respected by everyone, even if those decisions aren’t in the best interest of the patient.

Beneficence: All healthcare providers must strive to improve their patient’s health, to do the most good for the patient in every situation. But what is good for one patient may not be good for another, so each situation should be considered individually. And other values that might conflict with beneficence may need to be considered.

Non-maleficence: “First, do no harm” is the bedrock of medical ethics. In every situation, healthcare providers should avoid causing harm to their patients. You should also be aware of the doctrine of double effect, where a treatment intended for good unintentionally causes harm. This doctrine helps you make difficult decisions about whether actions with double effects can be undertaken.

Justice: The fourth principle demands that you should try to be as fair as possible when offering treatments to patients and allocating scarce medical resources. You should be able to justify your actions in every situation. For instance, it will amount to a professional misconduct for a Health-care Worker to remove a poor man from the ventilator because a Senator was rushed in.

Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem is a partner in Adetola-Kazeem Legal Practice and specializes in Medical and Health Law

Email: aadetolakazeem@gmail.com;aadetolakazeem@gaklp.com

[1] https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1(Accessed on the 28th of March 2020)

[2] https://businessday.ng/coronavirus/article/abba-kyari-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-buhari-negative/

https://www.channelstv.com/2020/03/24/buharis-chief-of-staff-abba-kyari-reportedly-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/ (Accessed on the 28th of March 2020)

[3] Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Outbreak: Rights, Roles and Responsibilities Of Health workers, Including Key Considerations For Occupational Safety And Health”. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-rights-roles-respon-hw-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=bcabd401_0   (Accessed on the 26th of March 2020)

[4] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/collapsing-virus-pummels-medics-spain-italy-69789413 (Accessed on 26th March 2020)

[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-19-hits-doctors-nurses-emts-threatening-health-system/2020/03/17/f21147e8-67aa-11ea-b313-df458622c2cc_story.html (Accessed on 28th of March 2020)

[6] http://saharareporters.com/2020/03/28/exclusive-two-nurses-one-doctor-infected-coronavirus-abuja-hospital

[7] Supra

[8] https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/coronavirus-patient-rejects-bauchi-isolation-centre-returns-home.html (Accessed on 28th March 2020)

[9] https://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/hcworkers/en/(Accessed on 26th March 2020)

Opinion

AddThis

:

Original Author

:

Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem

Disable advertisements

:

Read More
http://saharareporters.com/2020/04/01/legal-issues-arising-management-covid-19-patients-ahmed-adetola-kazeem

Views: 0

April 2, 2020
Malaysia receives medical equipment supply from China

PUTRAJAYA: Backed by a strong relationship between the two countries, China showed its empathy to Malaysia in combating an invisible enemy, Covid-19, by contributing a consignment of medical equipment.

The consignment consisted of 100,000 units of n-Cov PCR test kits, 100,000 pieces of N95 Medical Protective Face Masks, 500,000 pieces of 3-ply surgical masks, 50,000 sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and 200 units of ventilators.

The consignment was handed over by Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, Bai Tian to Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, at Wisma Putra here today.

Hishammuddin expressed Malaysia’s deep appreciation for the invaluable support of the Chinese government which clearly reflected the strong partnership between the two countries.

“This is an extraordinary contribution by a country to Malaysia, showing the close friendship, solidarity and consideration both Malaysia and China share.

“To China, it is my promise that Malaysia will make full use of these items and they will be immediately handed over to the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) so that our frontliners who have worked tirelessly will be prioritised in their distribution,“ Hishammuddin said at a press conference after the handover ceremony, here today.

He said, prior to today’s donation, Malaysia had received multiple donations from various provincial governments, non-government organisations, business community and individuals from China.

Meanwhile, Bai Tian said the Chinese government had paid very special attention when Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Hishammuddin expressed their worries about the lack of medical needs in Malaysia, and had succeeded in raising the most urgently-needed medical materials for this country.

“As a good neighbour and close friend of Malaysia, China feels how Malaysia feels, because in the past two months, China had also gone through a strenuous battle against Covid-19.

“The Chinese government and people will never forget how the Malaysian government and people had extended their helping hands during our darkest hours in the battle against Covid-19,“ he said.

Bai Tian said the batch of medical supplies had arrived in Malaysia, and hoped that these materials would help in the fight of the Malaysian government and people against the epidemic.

Besides medical supply, Bai Tian said China would also offer the support of a Covid-19 medical expert team from China, which could come here and work hand in hand with their Malaysian colleagues.

When asked how many and when would the doctors from China arrive here, Bai Tian said it all depended on the request from Malaysia.

“We want to know the actual need on the ground from the hospitals in Malaysia because we have experts from different areas like infection diseases, respiratory and ICU Cares.

“We are ready to offer the best practises and knowledge,“ he said. — Bernama

Read More
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/malaysia-receives-medical-equipment-supply-from-china-HH2191669

Views: 0

March 28, 2020
Coronavirus: United States Urges Doctors, Nurses Worldwide To Apply For Its Visas

The United States Government has urged nurses and doctors around the world interested in working in America to put in for its work visas at the nearest US Embassy to them.

The move is part of strategies the United States was adopting to increase the number of health workers combating the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

In a statement on Friday, the US authorities called on foreign medical professionals already in America to be in touch with their sponsors to extend their programmes.

The statement read, “We encourage medical professionals seeking to work in the United States on a work or exchange visitor particularly those working to treat or mitigate the effects of COVID-19, to reach out to the nearest embassy or consulate to request a visa appointment.

“For those foreign medical professionals already in the United States: J-1 Alien Physicians (medical residents) may consult with their programme sponsor, ECFMG, to extend their programmes in the United States.

“Generally, a J-1 program for a foreign medical resident can be extended one year at a time for up to seven years.”

At least 63,570 people have been infected with the virus and nearly 884 have died in the United States.

PUBLIC HEALTH

United States of America

News

AddThis

:

Original Author

:

Saharareporters, New York

Disable advertisements

:

Read More
http://saharareporters.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-united-states-urges-doctors-nurses-worldwide-apply-its-visas

Views: 0

March 28, 2020
Cuepacs donates RM20,000 to Covid-19 fund

KUALA LUMPUR: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) will donate RM20,000 to the Covid-19 special fund to help ease the burden of those affected and in need of financial assistance.

Its president Adnan Mat also urged civil servants to contribute to the fund through April and May payrolls.

“We recommend a contribution of RM10 for implementers group and RM20 for management and professional groups and above. For top management groups, it is up them,“ he said in a statement today.

Adnan said Cuepacs had sought the permission of Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Mohd Zuki Ali to implement the proposal in a comprehensive manner involving federal, states, statutory bodies and local authorities personnel.

“The contribution is to help our colleagues who are in the frontline such as doctors, nurses, policemen, soldiers and so on,” he said. — Bernama

Read More
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/cuepacs-donates-rm20000-to-covid-19-fund-BG2190232

Views: 0

March 27, 2020
Which covid-19 patients will get a ventilator if there’s a shortage?

If there’s a ventilator shortage, doctors and ethicists say priority should be given to people with the best chance of recovery and most years likely left to live

Read More
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2238310-which-covid-19-patients-will-get-a-ventilator-if-theres-a-shortage/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

Views: 0

March 27, 2020
WHO satisfied with Malaysia’s preparedness in dealing with Covid-19

PUTRAJAYA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is pleased with Malaysia’s level of preparedness in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pix) said the matter was learned at a recent meeting between the WHO and the Ministry of Health (MOH).

“What Malaysia is doing is the first method, the MCO (Movement Control Order),“ he told reporters at a media conference at MOH, here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia’s second method of controlling Covid-19 transmission was by conducting active case detection or identifying positive case patients – searching, testing, isolating and treating.

In addition, Malaysia also identified the Covid-19 target groups – those who attended the tabligh gathering at the Sri Petaling Mosque, illegal immigrants and the Rohingya community, he said.

He said the MoH had also consulted with the local authorities to carry out cleanup exercises of public areas which is expected to be implemented within the next two days.

Asked about the number of doctors in Malaysia at the moment, he said so far there were enough doctors, and the ministry is in the process of recalling 3,000 retired nurses and health workers.

“However, the MoH did not wait for all 3,000 retired medical personnel to come forward to register for employment. For example those who have skills in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and ward have been employed. More than 1,000 retired personnel are already placed in Sungai Buloh Hospital,” he said.

Asked about the teleconference between MOH officials and doctors from China in the afternoon, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia wanted to know about the new method used by China in treating Covid-19.

“For example the use of Avigan (medicine). The side effects need to be studied first. Even though it is not registered in Malaysia it can get the approval of the director-general of health,” he said.

He added among the new methods shared by China is to use the blood of patients who have healed, as plasma to thicken the antibody.

“But MoH is unsure whether this approach is effective or not,“ he added. – Bernama

Read More
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/who-satisfied-with-malaysia-s-preparedness-in-dealing-with-covid-19-GL2184967

Views: 0

March 26, 2020
The Political Economy Of Coronavirus By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi

The most powerful person in Aso Rock, Abba Kyari; who is the chief of staff to the president, has tested positive to Covid19. No government official can reach President Buhari without him. There is a ripe suspicion that the kitchen cabinet might have been infected. Likewise in Europe, the most powerful person, Angela Merkel the chancellor of Germany, has been quarantined. While Trump and Boris Johnson took the same path in trying to ignore the pandemic, their governments are in deep crises of the damages and exposures their neglect has caused the citizens.

As I type, the fear of corona virus is the beginning of real wisdom as governments are now banning even churches and mosques from gathering. The Nigerian federal ministry of health has announced 42 cases so far. And even the mass of working people who have hitherto doubted our thieving class so far, are now more wary and precautionary over their immediate safety without relying on the failed health institutions. People seldom shake hands now. Corona waves na the way to greet now! That corona virus has turned a corruption racket is what will be duly discussed another day.

Industries are closing down as Wall Street falls like pack of cards. US President Donald Trump is shouting “cuts” for the working class and bail-outs for industries and big business. Whereas, Socialist presidential aspirant Bernie Sanders is calling for “healthcare for all” as well as pay for all US citizens staying at home during the pandemic days. The globalised trend of the corona virus needs a global understanding and lessons of how the world is being ruled everywhere. The way US rulers have failed to care for the poor and invest in proper and compulsory healthcare for all but private pharmaceutical companies who make healthcare a commercial quantity that only the rich can afford, is the same way Nigerian rulers failed to build hospitals and kept allocating between 4 to 6% budgetary spending on education while them and their children spend billions on medical tourism. Also, Boris Johnson’s UK government is renting “beds at hospitals.” This is unlike Spain that has nationalized its healthcare!

The price of crude oil has fallen globally. The global stock exchange has crashed as workers can no longer go to work and make great wealth for their casino. Coronavirus has superceded SARS with its speedy spread and effects globally. So the world economic crises have been, for the first time, propelled by a health crisis. What can the Left and the revolutionaries in Nigeria make out of this global crises that could leave no island untouched?

Naomi Klein, the author of the classic ‘The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism’ has come up to warn that “if you’re a hard-core free-market economist, you understand that when market fails it lends itself to progressive change much more organically, than it does (when) the kind of deregulatory policies emerge. Political and economic elites understand that moment of crises is their chance to push through their wish list of unpopular policies that further polarize wealth…”

I argue that while the government in Nigeria has reduced the cruelly expensive cost of petrol by just #20, and there is lipservice to building new hospitals, there is a larger probability of massive corruption as the federal government has already declared #2trillion intervention fund. Why we the working people have to very much care is because the same elements who created the crises (whichever ways) would end up profiting largely from the crises. This just as many military officers and politicians are billionaires courtesy the Boko Haram war.

The interplay of methods of these corruptive accumulations on one hand, and the trajectory of working class resistances is critically assessed weighing up why and how the working people were at the loosing ends at the 2008/9 global economic crises that made the Central Bank under the Soludo/Sanusi bail-outs policies made the criminal banks even richer than before. Though a few bank MDs and top officers were detained on “hospital beds” and such other “ajebutter” prisons; no bank owner was even questioned.

The fact that both the US and Nigeria are rich governments that have bad healthcare policies, discussing social infrastructures as class struggle under this system of “primitive accumulation” needs to be knocked up as perspectives to guide millions who want an end to crises and build another world that would be for all and not a tiny thieving few.

A CLASSLESS PANDEMIC

The corona virus has shown that the gap between the rich and the poor is just an artificial creation. The nature of humans is more communal than competitive. Plenty of the rich mouth the fact that we are all equal, but some are more equal than others. This virus is a threat to all and shows that the world can organize together and defeat any virus that attacks it. Crises like this shows that there is no policy that is pro-rich that can save society. Most of the capitalists who rule our world have been saying that government cannot help all and cater for the needs of majority. They tend to tell us that getting “healthcare for all” is rocket science. Corona virus has proved that all that is wrong!

Meanwhile, many Nigerians are debating as to the cause of corona virus, and why it has drawn more attentions than malaria that kills about 800 everyday and child mortality that murders about 300 women daily. These debates became rife when Ibrahim Magu; head of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) asserted that “corona virus is caused by corruption.” His position, while quite misleading, is correct to the point that the virus is actually caused by the greed of man in unsettling the animal and forest lives. Most of the viruses live in the wildest of forests but humans go in and destroy their habitats. These make the virus homeless and have to migrate to live with humans.

The corona virus has also made the Nigerian politicians to have no escapist lives again. Most of them used to go abroad for medical tourism. But there is nowhere to run to now! This is why revolutionaries must use this chance to support striking doctors and demand for free, functionally standard and compulsory healthcare for all. We do not want a situation where the ruling class would use state wealth to build defence and cure for corona virus, only for the rich, instead for all. We must avoid repeating case of the last economic meltdown where what we could see is socialism for the rich and leave the poor uncatered for. This is why we must all reject the paltry #20 that was reduced from oil price as well as condemn the full devaluation of the naira. These policies will make the rich eat their cake and have it. Petrol price should be reduced to at least #45 while naira should be strengthened. The time to consider the #RevolutionNow demands of an “economy for the majority” is now!

2008/9: A FLASHBACK

When the 2008 global economic meltdown stormed Nigeria, the rulers ordered “technocrats” to adopt the Obama measures in bailing out the banks and their thieving managers. After prosecuting five CEOs of Afribank, Oceanic, Finbank, Intercontinental, and Union bank, The CBN went ahead to put #460bn as bail-outs for the banks after recovering just #70bn. The CEOs lost their posts for giving out #700bn loans without collateral. The loans portfolio of the bank, according to CBN, is #2.8tn. The richest guys in the country were involved in this public racket and were never touched. A good instance is Aliko Dangote who had a loan worth $15m with Oceanic Bank but got elected to replace Ndi OKereke as Nigerian Stock Exchange president. The same person has the monopoly of trading in rice, salt, sugar, textiles, and vegetable oil. The same persons who created the crises in the same place got rewarded after the crises. This is what Naomi Klein is warning about. For the rich, socialism is never good for the majority. The rich, in the time of corona virus and other disasters, want bail-outs but never for the working people. Just as Omoyele Sowore noted; “when crises arises, capitalism retires and socialism becomes the messiah!

We must start asking for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) from the federal government. Every Nigerian must each be paid at least #100,000 monthly as the corona virus effect billing. We should also demand a standard hospital per 5 streets with the doctors and nurses paid appropriately!

THE TRUMP/BUHARI DISORDER

President Buhari’s address to Nigerians has failed to address the pandemic. Trump’s tweets are of the same mental disorders like those of the ministers and officials of Buhari’s government.  Trump boasted that the “virus is under total control…The market will take care of itself,” he had to recant after the Dow Jones Industrial closed with its worst one-day decline since 1987; “The market will be very strong as soon as we get rid of the virus.”

“But even as he was doing so, Trump maintained that he hadn’t said the virus was “under control,” which is something he has most definitely said on many occasions — along with other attempts to play down fears” CNN noted.

Garba Shehu and other spokespersons of President Buhari have also been speaking from all sides of their mouths. They first downplayed the effect of the virus by revealing that malaria has been killing hundreds…Until they made some allocations of about $1.2trillion to the virus effects. The question remains the goals of the government. Many Nigerians do not trust the same government that has never given as much as 8% budgetary allocation to healthcare since the Buhari regime came into place, just like the PDP governments before it. While the president is one of the most sick, he prefers to betray electoral promises and visit private hospitals in the UK for months instead of building standard public health care.

Working people in US,UK, and Nigeria should look beyond their reactionary rulers and make real political demands that will make sure the same rogues who cause the crises don’t come back to claim to be the super heroes of the same crises. The case of Ebola and Lassa in Nigeria are classics in this regard. While Nigeria was lucky to get over the Ebola case with the sacrifice of health officials; Lassa fever has killed thousands so far loosely tackled because rodents most likely cannot enter luxury houses.

Nigerians should be aware that both Buhari and Trump are exponents of crazy capitalism and prefers to give false answers to real threats and would only be falsely apologetic later. We must understand that the rulers are neither interested in our well being nor our future. Their fear is that the virus should never become for all. They prefer crises for just the masses. But oga corona no mind. This is why despite Trump trying to call it Chinese virus or Buhari trying to boycott addressing the country, nothing matters to the working people than having a healthy society. Arms in arms, we will have to care for one another and defeat the most dangerous virus ever in the history of the world!

OPIUMS ON THE CROSS

Pastors in Nigeria, aside the ban on public and mass gatherings, are seriously on trial! Many a youths are asking what their “God” would do in this time of corona virus to save the followers from untimely deaths. The first pastor to become so fearless had predicted that he would go to China to cure the virus. But by the time the Italian became the first case in view; the pastor got admitted in a hospital for unknown reasons.

Also, the mosques are closing shop. Even many are contemplating drinking alcohol to help in preventing corona virus. Despite the fact that many a churches and mosques become well attended public places, the belief in better life and a prosperous world without danger have been the egg tacts around the building of these beliefs. Saudi Arabia has stopped religious visitations. Government everywhere is banning all worshipping junctures. If these bans have been summoned by political demands of the left, it couldn’t have sailed through but the struggle is being marshaled by a pandemic. Bernie Sanders was seen as too extreme but most of those pro-establishment strollers must be shitting in their yanshes now!

Karl Marx was very clear that “religion is the opium of the masses, the soul of the soulless.” The realizations of the fact that the immediacy of the problems of society can only be derailed if the people think that there is an umbrella or belief that can make some magic. With corona now, even the state that employs religion is not apologetic in banning its public activities. Sadly, many priests still in shock as to a possible demarketing have kept on lying to their congregations. A viral video shows a pastor saying “coronavirus cannot enter Nigeria where there is corrosive anointing;” so cocky in ignorance.  Such public ranting must be condemned.

CONFUSION BREAK BONE; NAIJA HEALTH IN CRISES

When the deposed emir of Kano, former CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was banned to Awe in Nassarawa State; the town has two (2) doctors to two hundred thousand (200,000) people. Such is the metaphor of health care in Nigeria.  Most doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel have migrated to other climes in an unprecedented brain drain. As Yusuf posited “7 out of 10 Nigerians live on less than $1.25 (~500 Naira) a day and they also live in a country where 70% of health expenditures are out-of-pocket payments. Nineteen years after the Abuja Declaration where African Union states pledged to allocate at least 15% of their annual budget to health, Nigeria continues to default. With over 23,584 public primary health care facilities, 8,290 private primary health care facilities and 200,000 patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs) in Nigeria, yet the country’s health indices and other health indicators continue to remain abysmal without any significant improvement compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Citizens are condemned to self-care using several unregulated drugs and African raw herbs. The yearly allocations to health care in the budget never rise beyond 6 and 8%. This is despite the fact that Aisha, wife of President Buhari once publicly complained that Aso rock clinic has no syringe! At the Teaching hospitals, one has to pay heavily to get health care as the state has been practicing health care commercialization. The medical equipments are really not there while there are so poor remunerations of medical personnel. Yet, when Ebola came knocking in 2014, the health workers paid the sacrifices.

Corona virus is global and has now halted the medical tourism of the rich class of whom President Buhari is the chief. If not for Covid-19, he would have gone visiting his London doctors for the umpteenth time!

The health workers’ unions have been fighting for a better system for years. This has been led by the Joint Health Staffs Union (JOHESU) and the Nigeria Medical Associations (NMA.) JOHESU has led enormous strikes and pickets but the neo-liberal policies of the ruling class keep ignoring these strikes. As I write, doctors in Abuja are on strike. The rulers are now in a quagmire. This is the time for the unions to collaborate with the civil society and revolutionary movements to take up the state and fight for “free health care for all.”

THE EXAMPLE OF CUBA

Fidel Castro’s people are the certified global doctors today!

A small island at the backyard of the United States of North America; Cuba is a state-capitalist economy led by revolutionary socialists. While the state have yet boomed since 1959 as a result of the prevailing capitalist globe, it has been vociferous on social welfarism especially education, food, health, and housing. This has been the minimum with which the Communist Party has been working on since the revolution. With its third president in charge now; Cuba is the country that is now rescuing the world from the genocide of corona virus. The vessel that is wholly affected by the virus has been shipped to the Cuban shore and Cuba has been treating the patients on board. Italy is receiving about 200 Cuban doctors and nurses as the catholic country leads the population of casualties. The Cuban health statistics shows that 98% is living healthily just as education is 98.5%.

Cuba stood by the world on hurricane Katrina; by South Africa against apartheid; by Angola against imperialist Portugal, and now that “God-forsaken communist country” stands by the world with the best of its great medical care against corona virus. This is a lesson that we need to abide by and make the world a socialist island. The current system of “greed and power” is a pandemic. It is ruled by political viruses that live mainly on primitive accumulations of the sweat and blood of the majority. The working class of all lands should unite and fight capitalism to the ruins and replace it with a world led by the people who make the wealth, not those who do nothing but steal the wealth.

IN ALL; THIS PANDEMIC WILL FALL

The struggle for a safer world is in danger of that “common ruins of the contending classes.” Italy, Nigeria, Spain, China, US, and some others have recorded deaths through corona virus. It is currently rumoured that some senators and members of the House of Representatives have contracted the deadly virus. We have 582 deaths in US and 46,145 cases with only 295 recoveries. One death has been recorded in Nigeria with 46 cases recorded. 6,777 are dead out of 63,927 cases in Italy. China has 16,578 dead in 382,570 incidents. Germany has 29,056 with 123 people dead. German chancellor, Angela Merkel has been quarantined. India with over 1 billion population has about 500 cases with no deaths.

The Indian case is very peculiar in lessons for Nigeria. Public health care in all tiers is free and subsidized for those below the poverty line. The Indian health sector encompasses 18% of total outpatient care and 44% of total impatient care. Middle and upper class use public health care less than those with a lower standard of living

The Covid19 pandemic has exposed big countries like Britain, US, China, Nigeria, and others. The pandemic have also exposed capitalism as an idea that is deficient to the mass of working people. The idea does not care for the majority but the thieving minority. The rich continue to be richer while the poor becomes poorer. We need labour and civil society to work together and reconstitute revolutionary relationships to make sure that working people does not be at the receiving end of this pandemic. We must remember that those who destroy the country must not be allowed to continue with their madness after the covid19. We must demand for #FreeHealthCareForAll!

We must also demand that world-class hospitals are built massively all over the country and we leave the madness of neo-liberalism in the dustbin of ruins. To do these works, we need a movement of the working people dedicated to the revolution that will build a country for all like the Take It Back movement and the Coalition for Revolution (CORE). Socialist organizations like the Socialist Workers and Youth League (SWL) serve as the political tribunes that remind us all on the ideal and alternatives to the rot that is causing pandemics and wars to the world today.

Capitalist presidents that combine neo-liberalism and fascism are in deep shit today as the covid19 has exposed their inefficiencies and monumental social infrastructural dangers. The health of the world is the safety net to our wealth. Why would we allow those who care about the wealth alone to continue to rule us? Why should we continue to allow those who think of only the individual and never the collective to continue to rule us? When Greta Thunberg was leading the climate change campaigns, Donald Trump was scolding her. Bernie Sanders, Jeremyn Corbyn, Omoyele Sowore, Elvo Morales, Bobbi Wine and other revolutionary change-seeking eggheads have all campaigned for another world; the point is for we the working people and all oppressed, in unity and action, lead #RevolutionNow to get a life warranty of #FreeHealthCareForAll!

Nigerians should demand for Cost of living allowance (COLA) of at least #100,000 in order to survive as the country is being locked down. We all must observe hand washing regularly; social distancing; avoid touching of faces, and other sophisticated parts of the body. Government should provide water, gloves and hands sanitizers to all. There is no electricity just as there is very poor housing for the majority of the people. We need the majority of empty house in cities and towns to be massively redistributed. Electricity must be renationalized.

With all unity and actions, we will defeat the yet another genocidal virus. This also tells us that we must choose to build the world for all and not for the few as the threat of grand barbarism stares us all in the face once again. Rosa Luxembourg would be rolling and smiling in her grave as we are condemned to learn from her battle cry: “socialism or barbarism!”

Opinion

AddThis

:

Original Author

:

Kunle Wizeman Ajayi

Disable advertisements

:

Read More
http://saharareporters.com/2020/03/24/political-economy-coronavirus-kunle-wizeman-ajayi

Views: 0

March 25, 2020
Health Ministry can conduct 16,000 screenings a day by April

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry expects to be able to carry out 16,000 Covid-19 screenings a day by April compared to just 3,500 now.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that tests are currently being conducted by 18 Health Ministry and five private laboratories.

“The Institute for Medical Research will train several other laboratories, including in military and university hospitals, to enhance Malaysia’s ability to conduct Covid-19 detection tests,” he said at the Covid-19 daily press conference today.

Meanwhile, he said the ministry will deploy more nurses in states with a very high number of Covid-19 patients like at the Sungai Buloh Hospital in Selangor as well as recall retired specialist doctors and nurses.

Other than that, the ministry is also cooperating with private hospitals to jointly tackle the health problem. – Bernama

Read More
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/health-ministry-can-conduct-16000-screenings-a-day-by-april-IN2168684

Views: 0

March 22, 2020
MMA calls on Nadma to resolve shortage of face masks

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) is calling on the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and relevant ministries to resolve the shortage of face masks for healthcare workers.

Its president Dr N. Ganabaskaran said some doctors had gone to the extent of recycling their masks while seeing patients and some had chosen to close their clinics because there are no face masks and hand sanitizers to protect themselves and their patients.

“The issue of face mask shortage has been highlighted since the outbreak in early February 2020, it has made national news and every citizen is aware about this. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) like face masks are a basic necessity when seeing patients who may carry this infectious disease.

“It is a requirement to provide hand rubs and face mask when seeing patients under investigation and it is indeed frustrating and not to mention unsafe not to have these items,” he said in a statement today.

He said healthcare workers in the private sector be it general practitioners, specialists, dental surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, radiographers, high-risk patients undergoing hemodialysis are all exposed to possible infection due to the inaction by the relevant ministries in addressing this issue.

Dr Ganabaskaran added, the failure to address this issue will result in higher risks of infections among patients and healthcare workers at healthcare facilities where people should feel safe.

“MMA wishes to reiterate that combating Covid-19 is a collective responsibility and not solely the responsibility of our health ministry,“ he said. — Bernama

Read More
https://www.thesundaily.my/local/mma-calls-on-nadma-to-resolve-shortage-of-face-masks-NA2165906

Views: 0

March 21, 2020