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Relief at Gulu hospital as new consignment of blood arrives

By James Eriku & Cissy Makumbi

Expectant mothers who had been admitted to the maternity ward last week after the hospital had run out of blood. PHOTO BY SAM LAWIN

Gulu

Gulu Regional Referral Hospital has received a new consignment of blood after suffering shortage for nearly a week.

This led to the death of two newborn babies in the maternity department after their mothers, because of delayed delivery, caused their exhaustion due to lack of blood.
Last week, several patients, who were either lined up for surgical operations or needed blood transfusion, opted to go to nearby private hospitals.

Feeling the pinch
A caretaker at the hospital, who requested anonymity, said: “I brought my sister all the way from Lalogi Sub-county, about 70 kilometres away, to have safe delivery here but we had to move to St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor where it is offered at a fee.”

Many expectant mothers, after the death of the two babies, reportedly abandoned the maternity ward fearing that they could be forced to undergo caesarean operation that would require blood transfusion.

But the hospital principal administrator, Mr Muhammad Mubiru, said the management was relieved at the weekend after several units of blood were brought from Kampala. He could not give the exact amount of the units received.

“We had to keep other patients on oxygen and other mechanisms while those with minor operations were advised to wait as the hospital tried to get screened blood,” Mr Mubiru said, adding that the shortage was caused by lack of a blood screening machine after one at the hospital broke down.

The hospital, with a capacity of about 500 beds, receives more than 400 outpatients in a day, Shortage of blood, drugs and other medical supplies has become the norm in many government hospitals and smaller health units.The Ministry of Health has always blamed the National Medical Stores, the distributing agency, and the districts for poor planning, leading to delayed delivery

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Health still a challenge, Kabaka says

By Ezekiel Martins Ssekweyama

Speaking during the Buganda independence anniversary celebrations on Monday at Kibanda Primary School in Kalangala District, the Kabaka said despite the challenges, the kingdom had remained united.

Under the theme, “Increased voluntary service and more respect for the environment,” for the celebrations, Kabaka Mutebi advised residents of Ssese Islands to protect the environment and the beauty of the islands.

The Kabaka also launched the Kalangala District Tourism Master Plan aimed at developing tourism sector as a source of revenue. One of the main sites to be developed is Lugo Forest, from where the rod, which the Kabaka hands over to the Katikkiro during his appointment, is obtained. It is the only forest in Buganda where the stave has been obtained for centuries.

Buganda parliamentary caucus chairperson Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi said they (caucus) had put aside their political differences for the cause of Buganda Kingdom. “Whenever Buganda issues are discussed and whenever we are confronted, we will always have to agree on a common position,” Mr Ssuubi told the Kabaka.

Posted on Categories Featured, News 252 Comments on Pfizer says to appeal over India drug patent refusal

Pfizer says to appeal over India drug patent refusal

US drug giant Pfizer said Friday it will appeal against an Indian ruling overturning a patent for a cancer drug, saying the decision raises questions about intellectual property protection in India.

 

Indian generics heavyweight Cipla opposed the granting of the domestic patent for Prizer’s Sutent, which is used to combat liver and kidney cancer.

The patent office’s decision went to the heart of India’s patent act, which says a patent cannot be granted for a drug unless changes make it significantly more effective and innovative.

“The patentee (Pfizer) has miserably failed to demonstrate any improved activity” warranting a patent, the patent office said in its decision.

“The invention that is claimed in the patent does not involve any inventive step… and hence (is) not patentable,” Nilanjana Mukherjee, senior patent officer, said.

A spokesman for Cipla, which revolutionized AIDS treatment by supplying cut-price drugs to the world’s poor and which has been campaigning to be able offer other low-cost generic medicines, had no immediate comment.

But Pfizer managing director Jazz Tobaccowalla said the company believes the ruling “undermines intellectual property rights in India”.

“We will vigorously defend our basic Sutent patent,” the Pfizer executive said in a statement, adding the company would appeal against the ruling to India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

The patent decision marked another win by Cipla against a global pharmaceutical company.

In September, a court threw out a patent infringement case launched against Cipla by Swiss drug maker F. Hoffmann-La Roche over the Mumbai firm’s version of a lung-cancer drug, ruling it had a different molecular makeup.

The cases have been watched worldwide as they involve interpretation of stricter drug patent protection rules introduced by India in 2005 to comply with World Trade Organization regulations.

India has some of the toughest criteria for drug companies to obtain patents, said D.G. Shah, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, an industry body.

“These rulings show (foreign) companies need to take into account that India will not permit tweaking of formulations for getting a patent. If they had those expectations, they were unrealistic,” Shah told AFP.

Medical charities have expressed concern compliance with WTO rules could reduce the country’s role as a supplier of low-cost medicines. India is the world’s leading exporter and manufacturer of non-branded medicines.

But Western firms — looking to countries such as India for sales growth — have voiced criticism of brand protection in India.

Earlier this year, an Indian ruling allowed a local firm to produce a vastly cheaper copy of German pharmaceutical giant Bayer’s patented drug Nexavar for liver and kidney cancer.

India’s patents chief ruled the price Bayer charged was “exorbitant” and told the firm to give a “compulsory license” — permitted under WTO rules for public health reasons — to Indian firm Natco Pharma to make a less costly version.

Experts say that ruling could pave the way for a rush of other “compulsory license” applications in India and other poor nations, allowing access to patented life-saving drugs at a fraction of the cost.

Read more: http://india.nydailynews.com/business/678d561f1bf06eab53965176d7bfd4cf/pfizer-to-appeal-over-india-drug-patent-refusal#ixzz28ZbSjQ00

Posted on Categories Featured, General News, News 209 Comments on Doctors’ pay raise okay but we need to do more to boost sector service delivery

Doctors’ pay raise okay but we need to do more to boost sector service delivery

Media report that the government is to double the salaries of doctors is a positive response to the demand that has taken years. Previously, we had between 10 and 20 per cent increments after strikes by health workers. Therefore, the doubling of doctors’ pay should be the beginning of a wider response in the quest for effective healthcare services.

However, there is need to look beyond the salaries as some factors may still hinder effective service delivery. I have visited some health facilities in Kamwenge District where a health centre IV is the main health facility. Rukunyu Health Centre IV did not have a functional theatre until recently, courtesy of funding by PEPFAR. As a partner, PEPFAR operationalised the theatre by providing equipment. It also supports health workers in the district.

However, the health facility still lacks electricity despite the fact that the power lines cross the compound of the facility. Whatever salary doctors will be paid, a health facility such as Rukunyu, which lacks power, will still struggle to offer effective services. Without electricity, it is not possible to use the ultra sound machines used to ascertain the condition of the baby in the womb. Yet such investigation is necessary for a doctor to make critical decisions regarding the lives of the mother and the unborn baby. Even children born premature cannot receive adequate care because the incubators cannot work.

Refrigerators for storing essential medicines will not be operational hence medicines will rot and sterilizing theatre equipment, a must-do, cannot happen. We have heard stories of health workers improvising lamps or mobile phone to provide light in labour wards as they help mothers to deliver. But such a situation is neither desirable nor sustainable. Fears that the power bills may be high for the health facility to afford cannot be reason enough for not connecting power to it.

However, the bills may not compare with the amount of fuel for ambulance and associated costs that may be required to transport a mother to Ibanda or Fort Portal for emergencies. Beyond, the salaries, urgent steps must be taken to address some of these issues as they have a direct bearing on service delivery.

Even a well-remunerated health worker at a facility that lacks the necessary tools, theatre, gloves, medicines, etc, may find themselves unable to offer effective services.

Paul Mayende Nicodemus, pmayende@baylor-uganda.org

Source: http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/Doctors++pay+raise+okay+but+we+need+to+do+more+to+boost+sector/-/806314/1520826/-/151y64fz/-/index.html

Posted on Categories Featured, General News, News 70 Comments on Call for concepts from University Students

Call for concepts from University Students

The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) in Collaboration with the Leaning Network based at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town (UCT) and with support from IDRC invites students in Universities in Uganda to submit concept notes for their research to be conducted within the project “Health System Governance: Community Participation as a key strategy for realising the right to health”.

Background
Center for Health Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) in Collaboration with the Leaning Network based at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town (UCT) are undertaking an IDRC supported project which entails research on “Health System Governance: Community Participation as a key strategy for realising the Right to Health”. The overall aim of the project is to develop models for community participation in health that advance health equity and strengthen governance systems for health.

The main objective of the project is to explore the hypothesis that building civil society capacity to participate in health care and in services that provide the social determinants of health using a rights-based approach, in the context of interventions to enhance service responsiveness will help to address inequities in health and promote stronger and more sustainable governance systems for health that give voice to the poorest and most marginalized in developing countries.

We welcome approaches from students to conduct research within the broader aims of the project, and invite you to submit a concept note for a study you would like to conduct under the auspices of the project.

Objectives of the call
This project aims to identify, in two sites, one in South Africa and one in Uganda, opportunities for best practice in utilizing community participation as a vehicle for realizing the health rights. As part of the project, we will be developing and testing training materials targeting primary health committees and structures that act as the voice for communities in relation to the health services. In addition, students will play a key role in documenting, describing and evaluating the processes and effectiveness of different strategies of the project.

Research Topics
The research topics should focus on the challenges regarding the sustainability of community participation strategies; effective participation strategies for the right to health ; enhanced responsiveness and better governance of the health system at local level up to the higher levels and how to build stronger conceptual and advocacy links between human rights approaches to health and health equity.

Eligibility
CEHURD and will collaborate with the Universities to select the students that will qualify to undertake research under the project. These students will typically be doing studies in the areas of Public Health, Human Rights, Social Sciences, Law and related areas. The students should be undertaking their research projects within academic year 2012/2013

Support
Students whose projects are approved under this collaboration will receive a student bursary to support their field costs and field work, as long as the project meets a research objective under the broader project aims.

For any inquiries concerning this call, please send an email to info@cehurd.org.

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