Aminu Kano Teaching hospital to cater for over 3000 PLWH

October 3, 2006 :: Mustapha Isah Kwaru Daily Trust,Abuja

The chief medical director of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Dr. Abdulhamid Dutse, has said that the HIV/AIDS care programme of the hospital has been expanded to cater for about 3,028 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who are presently receiving free anti-retroviral drugs and laboratory services.

The chief medical director who was speaking at the 11th Dr. Abubakar Imam Memorial Lecture said the hospital has spent over five million naira on short, medium and long term courses for its medical doctors.

Dr. Dutse also explained that a 60-bedded Ophthalmology/ENT ward has been virtually completed which would minimize the immense pressure on the surgical bed space. According to Dr. Dutse, laparoscopic surgery has been fully established in a bid to reduce the length of stayof patientswho went through surgical .

The guest speaker, Prof. Okochukwu Obiora Mbonu who presented a paper titled: Medical Practice in Contemporary Nigeria: Milestones, Challenges and Prospects, noted that the ongoing federal government crusade for health sector reform could only be actualized if five percent of the nation's capital budget is set aside for manpower development of medical practitioners.

Similarly, Prof. Mbonu noted that government should invest in the health sector to ensure healthy welfareof its citizenry through 10 to 15 percent increased funding of the sector from the national budget as stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

He opined that apparently realizing that poor health care delivery undermine rapid development of a nation, there was urgent need for the government to conduct National Census of all health professionals for more efficient and effective manpower planning programmes.

The urologist also canvassed for the development of research activities, through adequate funding, so that new ideas could be produced. Prof. Mbonu, however, stressed the need for state and Federal Ministries of Health to ensure that all fields of health sector include programmes of philosophy of "health for all" in theprinciples of health care system.