Govts urged to establish stroke units in teaching hospitals
The federal and state governments have been enjoined to establish a stroke units in the various teaching hospitals in the country to reduce death caused by poor management of stroke. A consultant neurologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Prof. Kolawole Wahab, who made the appeal in Lagos said that the five stroke […]
The federal and state governments have been enjoined to establish a stroke units in the various teaching hospitals in the country to reduce death caused by poor management of stroke.
A consultant neurologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Prof. Kolawole Wahab, who made the appeal in Lagos said that the five stroke units in the country, were not sufficient to manage the increasing number of stroke patients in Nigeria.
According to him, the government can help by providing the necessary facilities at the tertiary level.
Stroke unit care, he said, will require a "neurologist, even if it is just one, although, it will be very hectic for the person because that person will be on call for 24 hours. Also, a good support service will be needed, that is, neuro radiology to do CT scan. There is the need for trained stroke nurses, physiotherapist, neurosurgeon, speech therapist, all these are the people that will work as a team to form a unit.” Infrastructures are also required, he said.
“It will be a designated place. The institution can start small by providing five beds, we started with 10 beds in UITH and all other things such as water bed, multi parameters monitor, and the rest of them will be needed too," he said.
Addressing a team of neurologists and neurosurgeons during the launch of NeuroAid, a medication designed to help stroke patients recover after stroke, Wahab urged Nigerians to embrace primary prevention by managing their blood pressure, blood-sugar and other risk factors.
He said: "Whoever treats blood pressure adequately will reduce his chances of having stroke by 40 per cent. By doing primary prevention, we won’t spend the money that is not there on managing stroke and buying expensive medications."
He said the cost of acute management of stoke is between N500,000 to N1 million.
In a chat with the sole distributor of the new medicine for stroke, the Managing Director of Bolar Pharmacy, Pharm Bolade Soremekun, revealed that the Singapore made stroke drug by Moleac , which had a mixture of 14 natural components, was produced due to the inadequacy and unavailability of stroke medications in the country.