‘Blood donation does not kill’

12:28 AM Health No Comments

The Head, Donor Unit, Lagos State Voluntary Blood Donation Service, Mrs. Temilola Alayande, has encouraged Nigerians to donate more blood to save lives as the act does not kill.

Alayande spoke at a sensitisation programme organised by the state’s Blood Transfusion Committee tagged, “Blood Donor Recruitment and Retention,” to promote positive attitude towards voluntary blood donation among youths in the state.

She noted that the state which had witnessed acute shortage of blood in its blood banks, would be launching aggressive campaigns to recruit voluntary blood donors among youths.

Alayande attributed the poor response to blood denation by Nigerians to erroneous cultural beliefs.

She noted that ignorance and poor education about the importance of blood donation had led many to believe

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Insurers on war path with state governments over insurance business

12:24 AM Business No Comments

THE Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, said it ready to wage war with any state government that has given exclusive rights to unlicensed intermediaries in their states to sell insurance policies. According to the NIA, the only authorised institutions to sell insurance policies are the insurance companies.
Chairman of NIA, Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi who made this assertion said that the NIA is against the trend where such unlicensed intermediaries monopolise the business of insurance in some states, thereby depriving the real owners of the business of their entitlements.
Ladipo-Ajayi said, “This is something that the NIA is really working at and this one we will give it the last

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‘Obsolete machines, bane of accurate diagnosis’

12:20 AM Health No Comments

The Coordinator, Kanu Heart Foundation, Mr. Onyebuchi Abia, has said the presence of obsolete and outdated machines in the nation’s hospitals has increased cases of misdiagnosis in the nation’s hospitals.

Abia, who spoke at a press briefing organised by the foundation in collaboration with the Justice Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church, Festac on its 2012 International Health Summit, said 70 per cent of medical investigation given to patients in Nigeria whom the foundation sent for medical treatment abroad, when examined in these foreign hospitals, were always incorrect.

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Longest organ donor chain links 60 people in US

12:17 AM Health No Comments

The world’s longest chain of organ donations has been completed in the US, with 30 patients receiving a kidney from 30 living donors.

The chain connected people who had wanted to donate a kidney to a family member or friend, but were incompatible, with a suitable stranger.

Their loved one then received a kidney from someone else along the chain.

The complicated process lasted for four months and involved 17 hospitals across 11 states.

It started in August with a man called Rick Ruzzamenti, a 44-year-old electrician from California who decided

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Task force shuts 14 drug stores, arrests four

12:16 AM Health No Comments

The Lagos State Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods has shut 14 illegal drugs stores and arrested four operators of the stores at Ebute-Metta and Oyingbo Mainland local government areas of the state.

According to a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, in Lagos on Monday, the exercise was carried out to reduce the activities of drug traffickers and fake drug peddlers in the state.

Idris said the area was notoriously known for accommodating illegal stores where pharmaceutical products

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Global fishmeal producer appoints Nigerian representative

12:14 AM Business No Comments

TripleNine Fish Protein, a leading global fishmeal producing company, has appointed Jejenuwa Company Limited as its representative to market and sell its 999 Fishmeal brand in Nigeria.

A statement from the Chief Executive Officer, Jejenuwa Company Limited, Mr. Hakeem Oyeneyin, said the appointment of the firm as the representative of the Denmark-based firm in Nigeria was a demonstration of its confidence in the country as the commercial hub of sub-Saharan Africa.

With the development, Oyeneyin said consumers of the product in the country would now have access to the 999 Fishmeal, which is renowned for its high protein level and other nutritional benefits.

He said, “With Jejenuwa as the representative of the company in Nigeria, adulteration is defeated. You can only get to buy the best from the manufacturer or its representative and the unwholesome activities of some unscrupulous people in our society will, therefore, be checkmated.

“The good news now is that consumers can get the best quality at the right price without the risk of being short-changed.”

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Electricity: NERC warns DISCOs against unapproved charges

12:11 AM Business No Comments

ABUJA — THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Monday warned electricity distribution companies not to charge their customers rates outside what was approved by it last year.
The warning is coming on the heels of increasing number of petitions and complaints received by the Commission that some of the Distribution Companies are cashing in on the recent media reports over planned increase in the electricity tariff and charging their customers rates other than those approved by the Commission.

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Insurers decry series of overwhelming reforms

12:10 AM Business No Comments

Despite complaints of being overwhelmed by series of reforms, all insurance and reinsurance companies in the country must establish a Risk Management Department/Unit as part of their risk management strategy by 1st July, 2012.
The requirement is coming on the heels of other reforms which insurers and reinsurers are expected to comply with in the course of the year, irrespective of their complaints that the reforms are one too many and are becoming burdensome.

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Gold rises after Greek deal gives euro boost

12:07 AM Business No Comments

LONDON: Gold was on course for its largest daily rally in two weeks on Tuesday after European leaders reached a deal to help Greece avoid bankruptcy, helping the euro to eke out gains, which in turn boosted dollar-priced assets.

Euro zone finance ministers sealed a 130 billion euro ($172bn) bailout for Greece to avert a chaotic default in March after persuading private bondholders to take greater losses and Athens to commit to deep cuts, Reuters reported.

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CIPM canvasses professional human resource managers

12:06 AM Business No Comments

The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria has decried the use of non-professionals as heads of human resources departments by many corporate organisations in the country.

Describing the development as worrisome, the institute said many public and private sector businesses seldom engaged the services of professional human resource managers, stressing that the situation had led to poor employee performance in the affected firms.

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Foreign investors fear Japan banks may hijack Olympus

12:04 AM Business No Comments

LONDON/TOKYO: Western investors in Japan’s disgraced Olympus have accused its banks of trying to take control of the boardroom by stealth, amid growing signs that the firm’s major creditors are considering installing their own appointees in the top jobs.

Foreign investors in the maker of cameras and medical equipment, engulfed by a $1.7bn accounting fraud, have called for an entire renewal of the board, including outside talent unconnected to Olympus, its banks or major owners, according to Reuters on Monday.

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FG approves guidelines to boost local commodities’ purchase

12:03 AM Business No Comments

 The Federal Government has approved a series of fiscal policy measures for 2012 to encourage the purchase and utilisation of locally produced commodities.
A circular published on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday stated that measures were being put in place to expand domestic production, boost exports, generate employment and create a level playing field.
The circular, which was signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, CBN, Mr. Batari Musa,

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