By Kemi Akintokun
Mr Hamzat Adebiyi, Head, Department of Physiotherapy, Alimosho General Hospital in Lagos, on Saturday urged Nigerians to engage in moderate exercise to keep fit, while the COVID-19 lockdown lasted.
Adebiyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the ongoing lockdown should not pave way for a sedentary lifestyle, which could be harmful to health.
“Nigerians should take advantage of the lockdown to engage in moderate exercise of 30 minutes daily to stay fit and healthy.
“We should avoid sitting in a particular position for too long, because of the negative health implication to the body.
“This is not the time to eat excessively. Our food intake should be moderately done, while the period could also be used for spiritual exercise,” the physiotherapist said.
He added that Nigerians should ensure a daily intake of 2.5 litres of water to rehydrate the body.
“Water is essential to keep the body organs functioning well; this also detoxifies the body from toxins that could cause harm, following inactive habits.
“It is very imperative, therefore, to keep an open mind at this time, basically on positive values, in order not to trigger the wrong cells of anxiety and its dangerous effects,” Adebiyi said.
The physiotherapist explained that a five-minute deep breath should be observed three times a day to keep the heart healthy.
He also urged individuals on prescribed medication to adhere strictly to such medications.
“Your life is your personal business; live it well enough to prevent diseases, stroke and maintain good hygiene to prevent and curb the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
By Felicia Imohimi
The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has attributed indiscriminate hike in cost of drugs, hand sanitisers and other essential commodities to non-implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines by governments.
Mr Samson Adekola, the National Chairman of the association, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Adekola noted that the policy document was supposed to address the chaotic drug distribution channels when implemented, adding that till date, both the Federal and State governments were yet to implement it.
He further noted that the policy document was geared toward elimination of the dominance of unregulated drug markets in major cities of the country
“The consequence of non-implementation of the document is that drugs have continued to be in the open drug market in the hands of businessmen, people who see drugs as articles of trade.
“And for them they are free to do anything with it. This is why it is difficult to control price of drugs in Nigeria.
“Today if you go to India, a pack of drugs like Paracetamol for instance has the price tag that it should be sold to the public on it right from the manufacturers.
“So, nobody will put price because there is a control from the manufacturer to the distributor to the final person. So what you can get in one pharmacy for N10 you cannot go to another pharmacy and they will tell you N20 in the developed world,” he noted.
He frowned at the negative perspective of some government agencies against ACPN members and their premises with regard to indiscriminate hike in some commodities like hand gloves, sanitisers and face masks, among others, since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Adekola observed that before Coronavirus outbreak and index case was recorded in Nigeria, the prices of some commodities like hand gloves and sanitisers which were very central to prevention and protection of the public became very high from our suppliers and marketers.
According to him, some of their members at first, decided not to buy these items because we didn’t know what was responsible for the hike in prices.
“For instance, because face mask that we usually buy for N350 for a pack of 50 even as at December, suddenly rose to N10,000.
“A carton that we buy N10,000 by January became N40,000, which was weird, at that time I didn’t buy even for my family, but some of our members were still buying. We didn’t know that the worse was still to come.
“At the moment, that carton of face mask that we buy for N10,000 in December is sold in the market at N480,000. And some of our members who don’t want to say no to their clients still continued to buy and this is because their clients say they need it.
“We have our standard pricing as pharmacists, the standard is 33.1% but today practice of pharmacy is being bastardised. It is now in the hands of charlatans, people who know next to nothing about pharmacy,” he said.
The chairman regretted that community pharmacists being the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus pandemic were not given due recognition in the country as obtainable in developed world like UK, U.S. and others.
He specifically noted that countries like UK, US, government made provisions for community pharmacists.
“They purchase masks, personal protective equipment for community pharmacists because they see them as the frontline, they are the first people the public come to when they are sick.
“But in Nigeria nothing. Government has not given us recognition. And effort we are making to support government is seen as something else,” he said.
