One Nigerian affected with stroke every 80 minutes – Surgeon Akoh Prof

A Consultant General Surgeon/Associate Professor, with practice privileges at the Nuffield Health Plymouth Hospital, UK, Jacob Akoh (rtd), has said in every 80 minutes one Nigerian comes down with a stroke. This is even as he said stroke has become the second most deadly illnesses more than HIV. Surgeon Akoh who stated this during his […]

A Consultant General Surgeon/Associate Professor, with practice privileges at the Nuffield Health Plymouth Hospital, UK, Jacob Akoh (rtd), has said in every 80 minutes one Nigerian comes down with a stroke.

This is even as he said stroke has become the second most deadly illnesses more than HIV.

Surgeon Akoh who stated this during his presentation of Bingham University, Karu 2nd Public Lecture on Wednesday, tagged, “Beyond the Operating Room: Reflection of a Surgical Carreer and Life of Purpose,” said stroke is a devastating illness and across the world and it affects one in every six people and has killed many.

Akoh who was trained in UK and worked for 40 years said: “In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa because we’re dealing with a large volume of infectious diseases we tend to eliminate to the background some of the killers in our midst and stroke happens to be one of them.”

He explained that Hypertension is very common in many countries in sub-saharan Africa because temperature is high, people are dry and dehydrated.

“When you have hypertension there are no symptoms. People think that headache is a symptom of hypertension that’s not correct and so people may be walking around with very high blood pressure levels and if they fall the other thing is an attack or is because of witchcraft and in fact in some families they are ashamed to let the world know that somebody has got a stroke and instead of taking them to where they can get help they hide them and of course many of them die.”

He said there is need to so educate people, have rehabilitation centers where people with stroke can be repaired back to life.

“You may develop what is called hemiplegia that means paralysis on one side when you have a stroke but if you receive the proper treatment that may recover to some extent. You may not be able to walk, that you can be helped to walk but why we continue to neglect what is such a killer and such a common killer in our community is really difficult to know,” he said.

The Surgeon, however said to improve Nigeria health care system, “the first thing is to value our lives, secondly, if we value our human life, we will do things to improve what we know.”

“I was giving a talk to doctors in Asaba in 2013. I said this was the situation when I left and many of the doctors told me it hasn’t changed, there are still hospitals in this country that have no water, there are still hospitals in this country without power supply. And then of course, facilities are very mundane.”

“People are spending a large proportion of how much money they earn in the country on health. Here is a small tiny fraction. If I take you back to 1984, we were spending 1.26% of our GDP on health. When a developing country like ours should be spending 15%, when we told the military they didn’t understand, they thought we were trying to overthrow them. That attitude hasn’t changed. You see senators driving cars, buying cars of 100 and something million and going abroad for their treatment.”

“Why can’t we fix the hospitals here? Why can’t we treat the people? I keep saying, let’s learn from India. They went abroad to America, to England to bring back, entice back their own people who were highly skilled and trained. If I stayed in this country, I won’t be as skilled and trained as I am today.”

Speaking,he Vice Chancellor of Bingham, Prof Haruna Ayuba, said te pubkic lecture is organised with the aim to bring experts in specific areas to tell the public, especially based on their knowledge and experiences over the years, to share those reflections with members of the university community and then members of the public.

He said: “We have realise there are very typical issues in the country, like issues of healthcare, for instance. So you pick some of those topical issues and you get such people who will come and share their reflections with members of the public.”

On the guest lecturer, he said: “We had a small invitation in Abuja and I met him. Having listened to his resume, somebody that has worked in the UK as a doctor for 35 years, that kind of person has a lot of experience. And more so that he’s a Nigerian, so he has combined his experiences and he knows all the challenges that we have in this country. And he has been to the UK and he has seen it all. That kind of person can provide a broader perspective of the issues. And that is why we are so glad to have him.

To the students, he said , “We are hoping that you can always stand in the gap, regardless of your profession. And there’s something you can do. So the charge to the students is that if somebody who grew up here and has gone there and is back, it means that wherever you go, you can also give back.

“You may not be able to pay back completely, but you can give back. So the message to the students is don’t neglect that little thing, that contribution that you can make.”

The also hinted that they are planning to engage experts I the medical field to help the varsity establish a center, some kind of laboratory for diagnostics so that people can access it in the university instead of going to private centres.