Nigeria loses 59,000 pregnant women annually

I have already highlighted the embrassing Nigerian maternal mortality rates in a previous post but today the Punch-Nigeria's most widely read newspaper has published an article on the governments latest efforts to combat this problem.

The sum of N9bn has been allocated to 12 states to help train the appropiate specialists and update the facilities in state obstetric units.

This is an issue that the Flying Doctors has and will continue to lobby about, as well as provide critical care transport for these women and their often critically ill newborns.

Dr Da Vinci hopes that at least some of this funding will make it through Nigeria's funnel of corruption (pictured above).

Andrew Lansley And OOH

Many names go through Dr Da Vinci's head over the course of a day. One of the new-comers is a gentleman called Andrew Lansley the new secretary of state for health.

What is he plotting? Is he as competent as everyone says he is? What does this mean for the NHS? What's his angle?

An article in the Daily Mail this week, based on his recent press conference, touched on a very sore nerve for many doctors; the provision of out-of-hours services by GP's.

You see many GP's work over 60 hours a week already. It would take a great deal of re-structuring to ensure that this service can be provided safely.

I've read some of the comments on the article. GP's are once again branded as 'Lazy', 'Fat Cats', 'Greedy', 'Focussed on profit instead of patient care' when infact the crux of the problem seems to be how OOH can be safely implemented and paid for rather than GP's being reluctant to do it.

I like the fact that....."Under his plans, responsibility will be handed back from primary care trusts to GPs working in local groups, who will commission services or provide them by working in rotas through co-ops."This will be much better than the current private provider model.

Opinion on Andrew Lansely? As yet undecided, all will be revealed on his 60 day report card.

Valerie Taylor And CRP

I've been meaning to write about this inspiring story for a while. Pleased I finally have gotten round to it. It's a story that touched me immensely when I first read of it a few weeks ago.

The woman in the picture above is Valerie Taylor O.B.E. Orginally from Buckinghamshire, England,she first travelled to Bangladesh with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in 1969 to work as a physiotherapist in Chandragona Hospital, near Chittagong. At that time Bangladesh was still known as East Pakistan, as a result of the partition of India after British rule ended in 1947.

In 1973 Valerie returned to England to attempt to raise funds to establish a rehabilitation centre for disabled. She stayed in England for two years before returning in 1975. It took another four years before CRP was able to admit it's first patients in 1979. During this time, Valerie worked in the Shaheed Surawady Hospital in Dhaka and it was in the grounds of this hospital that CRP had it's first premises, two cement storerooms which were used to treat patients.Since then, the CRP has grown to include a 100-bed hospital, in addition to providing other rehabilitation treatments. The center includes recreational services including a swimming pool, and sports areas. The center also provides vocational training so that the poorer patients can learn income-generating skills that can be performed while in their physical condition.

Through all the various moves from one premises to another, Valerie has continued to work tirelessly for the benefit of CRP. Even today the light in her office can be seen burning till late in the evening.

Valerie is also legal guardian to two disabled girls, Joyti and Poppy.

Despite officially taking a backseat role at CRP some years ago, Valerie remains the driving force behind the running and development of CRP.

In 1998 Valerie was awarded Bangladeshi citizenship by the then Prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina.


Amazing story. People like this push me forward, make me want to read more,strive more, learn more and teach more in an effort to become a better doctor and a better person.

Unfinished Business say Remedy UK

The doctors pressure group remedy is doing great things.

I've never been a pet person, but I love the ferret. Lovely to see you supporting your trainees!

Industrial Accidents In Nigeria

You may recognise some of the images that are posted above. They are images from some of the most harrowing and disastrous industrial accidents in recent times.

The second picture depicts the severity of the deep water horizon disaster without me even having to put it into words. Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig which sank on April 22, 2010, causing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This was the result of an explosion two days earlier where eleven crewmen died. However, seven lives were saved and taken to hospital by air ambulance.

The first picture is of the Georgia sugar refinery explosion that occurred on February 7, 2008 in Port Wentworth, Georgia, United States. Thirteen people were killed and 42 injured when a dust explosion occurred at a sugar refinery owned by Imperial Sugar.

There were 112 employees on-site at the time and over 100 of them became casualties.

The air ambulance service and their staff were indispensable in finding, treating and transporting these patients to hospital.

Many victims were placed in artificial comas because they were on life support systems, many were in critical condition. There were eight deaths.



Whilst developing this product, we discovered that the problem was by no means confined to the multi-nationals that we were developing it for. As a matter of fact, the companies that were asking us to provide the industrial cover ironically already had some of the best health and safety records in Nigeria! They were simply seeking better, more cost-effective alternatives.

So it's obvious that many Nigerian companies value their staff immensely and acknowledge the ever present risk of industrial accidents. The risks are heightened by the lack of a fully-functional land ambulance service,the huge distances to properly equipped trauma centers and deficient major incident training. These factors make air ambulance services even more essential to industry here that they are in the States!

The Facts About Industrial Safety + Accidents In Nigeria.


Most of the industrial deaths in Nigeria occur due to lack of ambulance to take accident victims to hospital during emergency. (2009)

Reacting to the rising case of accidents in some companies, the General Secretary of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) said, the companies valued production more than the lives of the producers. (2009)

Official statistics has show that no fewer than 3,000 industrial accidents take place in Nigeria annually. However, the unions put the number at closer to 7000 due to gross under-reporting and under-recording (2009)


The commonest accidents in their order of frequency were: falling from a height, explosion/fire, motor vehicle accidents and falling objects. Multiple injuries, head and neck trauma and drowning were the commonest cause of death at autopsy (2006)

Accidental deaths were commoner in the small-scale industries (81%) than in the large-scale industries (19%)(2006)

Almost on a daily basis, various degrees of industrial accidents are recorded, from minor to major injuries to employees (2009)

None of the 2, 913 patients admitted to the university hospital Ilorin; many victims of industrial accidents, received ANY pre-hospital care (2005)


The list of evidence that industry in Nigeria was in dire need of air ambulance cover/pre-hospital care solutions and safety training catered directly to industry was overwhelming. This is just a snap-shot. There was definitely demand and an unfilled market need at the time.

Since we launched, it has become our most successful product to date by providing cost-effective, efficient, air ambulance cover and industry-specific first aid and safety training to our clients.

We hope to see an increasing number of companies joining us to help reduce the morbidity and mortality from industrial accidents in Nigeria.

Well Hung

No, this is not a post about the beautiful hanging gardens of Mumbai in the picture above.

This is about the UK election result. We have a hung parliment. A hung parliament is one in which no party has an overall majority, which means no party has more than half of MPs in the House of Commons.

It means that the government will not be able to win votes to pass laws without the support of members of other parties.

The conventional wisdom is that it is Gordon Brown's duty to stay in office until it becomes clear which party or combination of parties can command the most support in the new parliament.

This should become clear in the next few hours to days.

Dr Da Vinci will remain in suspense till then.

Democracy

I'm watching the live feed on the BBC as the votes for this years election are being counted up.

Free and fair.


I am hoping the elections process in Nigeria can mirror it this time around.


Fingers crossed.


Yar'Adua Rest In Peace........

Specialist Training in The UK

My decision to move back to Africa, become the MD of the first Flying Doctors service in West Africa and set up my own line of clinics was influenced for the most part, by my determination to induce an improvement in healthcare across the region.

But also due the poor methods and standards of training I was offered in the UK. The dumbing down of medicine was getting ridiculous as pointed out continuously by the entire medical blogosphere. Unfortunately our comments fell and are still falling on deaf ears.

One of such bloggers that has been something of a pace setter for this issue is my beloved ferret, he has spoken about this time and time again.


I wonder how much highlighting an issue needs before someone takes note. It'll take as long as it takes I guess.

I think Bill Alexander outlines these problems quite eloquently in his letter to the Lancet.

Hospital consultants and GP's please take note! You still have the collective power to turn this around.


The Lancet, Volume 350, Issue 9094, Pages 1851 - 1852, 20 December
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)63668-9Cite or Link Using DOI
Specialist training in UK
Bill Alexander


Sir,

The commentary by Philip Barber reflects, I suspect, the views of the vast majority of clinicians in the UK. Why have we stood back and watched the high standard and enjoyment of clinical medicine disappearing under non-evidence-based edicts? I suppose because the silent majority of clinicans have been left beleaguered by more voluble ex-colleagues who now dictate to them from the bureaucracies that attracted them out of mainstream care delivery into the seductive political world. What a pity more of us have not taken as much time publicly as we have privately, to express our dismay at the implementation of systems we all loathe and for which we have never accepted the rationale.

There is a further, so far unmentioned, consequence of these harebrained new schemes that may be even more destructive than the schemes themselves. That is the appearance of a reduced threshold for doctors in training to take sick leave. This is likely to be due to reduced morale and commitment rather than increased disease.

I agree with Barber that the Royal Colleges need to be more supportive of their ordinary fellows and members and more aware of their concerns. I hope there will be a flood of letters in response to Barber's refreshing opening shot and that copies will be sent to the relevant bodies. I suspect, however, that it is far too late and we are now all too weary.