Paul Obi in Abuja
A group, Beyond Trends Thought Leadership Roundtable (BTTLR) will this week hold an international symposium geared towards assisting Nigerians tackle the burden of cancer, diabetes and chronic kidney diseases in the country.
The symposium Tagged “Connected Hospital and Healthcare Management Symposium”(CHHM) is slated for November 15 to 16 in Abuja.
Chief Executive officer of Beyond Trends Thought Leadership Roundtable, Dr. Austin Amaechi told journalists in Abuja that “the symposium was aimed at bringing together policy makers, government ministers , healthcare professionals and researchers, hospital owners and directors as well as the general public to get insights on chronic diseases prevention, diagnosis and best management practices and enabling technology solutions.”
Amaechi added that the theme of this year’s symposium is ‘Prostrate Cancer, Diabetes, and Chronic Kidney Diseases Treatment and Management’ stressing that, “it was inspired as a result of the rampant cases of the disease in the country particularly in rural areas.”
According to him, experts from Nigeria and the diaspora are expected at the event including Prof. J.T Duncan, the first radiation oncologist in West Africa.
Amaechi maintained that “the symposium will also enlighten the experts and people on medical nutrition therapy; the way people eat and what they eat contributes to the rising cases of the diseases and we would also help tackle some of them respectively.”
Meanwhile, CEO of the Centre for Integrated Health Programmes (CIHP) Dr. Bolanle Oyeledun, has called on government at all levels to expedite action in setting up health programmes that are capable of addressing the health needs of the populace promptly.
She stated this at a briefing with journalists, adding that, “it was important to make them functional to ensure that the average person who was five kilometers away within that radius could go to a primary health care canter that meets the minimum standard prescribed by the country.
She explained that “there was need for ministries, department and agencies involved in health care delivery and development to be responsive , and to ensure that hospitals and all levels of health care and institutions provide quality care.
Oyeledun insisted that it is incumbent on government at all levels to “ensure that health care providers were paid on time and should get remuneration that motivate them to do their work adding that most importantly meeting the needs of the client or patient who is the end user person is paramount in everything that was done.”
On CIHP activities so far, she said the organisation “has carried out test for over 4.2 million pregnant women across the states that it supports, and also helped prevent mother to child transmission of HIV in 65,000 pregnant women.
“Our focus is health systems strengthening (HSS), institutional capacity building and reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases. Others focus areas are care and support for Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and gender equity and empowerment,” Oyeledun added.
