Nkeng and Gbiri
Experts identify ignorance and poor state of health care facilities as reasons why many do not survive stroke, Bukola Adebayo writes
Though the incidence of stroke is
increasing globally, the situation in Nigeria is more pathetic, experts
have said. They say Nigerians, especially, suffer stroke due to
preventable circumstances such as ignorance, undetected and
poorly-managed conditions like hypertension, diabetes and lack of health
care facilities.
They state that 80 per cent of the
160,000 cases of stroke that occur in the country yearly can be
prevented if there are well-equipped hospitals and if Nigerians living
with high blood pressure and diabetes manage their health properly.
Though there is no national statistics
on the number of Nigerians suffering stroke, neurophysiotherapist and
lecturer at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Akoka, Dr.
Caleb Gbiri, says the population of Nigerians that suffer stroke is on
the increase.
He says unlike before,when he saw few
patients, these days, he attends to at least five to six new cases of
stroke in his practice every month.
Gbiri states,“Recent statistics collated
from hospitals suggests that more than 0.001 per cent of the Nigerian
population suffer stroke yearly. This means that more than 160,000
Nigerians develop stroke yearly. We have not added the statistics of
those that herbalists, pastors; Imams and so-called traditional healers
manage.
“This figure is just too high for only one disease.”
The expert links this increase to
ignorance. According to him, the majority of Nigerians who have high
blood pressure, high cholesterol content in their system and end-stage
diabetes and diseases that predispose to stroke do not even know that
they have it.
He says,“ It is disheartening to know
that 80 per cent out of the 160,000 cases of stroke can be prevented if
only people who are have hypertension, diabetes or heart diseases can
manage their health. What we see now is that most Nigerians are not
ready to modify their lifestyle to the reality on ground.”
He adds that a prevailing factor why
stroke patients do not survive is the myth associated with the disease
in the country. According to him, investigations conducted by experts
revealed that more than 50 per cent of those who suffer stroke seek
medical care from quacks and unqualified persons in Nigeria.
Gbiri states,“Stroke is a brain attack,
not a spiritual attack. The belief that stroke is a spiritual attack
will not make an individual who has just suffered his first stroke come
to the hospital. One goes go to spiritual homes to solve spiritual
problems. Stroke is a condition in which the brain cells suddenly die
because of a lack of oxygen and not because one is struck by lightning.
“Stroke occurs when blood flow in the
body has been obstructed or there is a rupture in the artery that feeds
the brain. It is a medical problem, not a satanic problem.”
Corroborating his view, stroke nurse
consultant with Kings College Hospital, London, Mrs. Gloria Nkeng, whose
organisation, Strokecare International, championed a road show in Lagos
on Tuesday, as part of activities to mark the World Stroke Day, says
the incidence of stroke continues to rise among Nigerians due to poor
health-seeking behaviour.
Narrating a personal experience, Nkeng
notes that ignorance reigns over knowledge when it comes to seeking
treatment for the disease.
She says,“I once saw a 40-year old
banker with chronic stroke who had been bedridden for two years because
he had been misled. When he suffered the first stroke, he boarded a
plane to Enugu, instead of heading for the hospital. He managed the
condition at a traditional healer place for two years in his village.
“He was later brought to the hospital
where we discovered that it was high blood pressure that caused it. It
could have been detected and managed properly to prevent paralysis if he
had just gone to a hospital the first day he had it.
“That is how ignorance is killing Nigerians daily.”
The Nigerian government has also not
helped the situation going by the poor state of health facilities,
according to the UK-trained nurse.
Asked to compare stroke care facilities
in Nigeria with what obtains abroad, she quickly says, “It is
incomparable. We cannot compare even the hospital beds that we have in
the UK with the hospital beds here.
“The standard practice to resuscitate a
stroke patient in England is 20 minutes from the period that the
ambulance picks the patient up to when he/she is admitted to the stroke
ward. During these minutes, we would have done a brain scan and body
scan, cut through the necessary vessels and the patient stabilised in a
stroke unit where there are experts, heart and blood pressure monitors
and there is an alarm if anything changes.
“Even after the patient is discharged,
there are experts in the community waiting to give support at home. Do
you have these here?”
She also notes that the number of
Nigerians going abroad for stroke care is increasing and thus calls on
government and well-meaning Nigerians to establish stroke care centres
in major cities. This, she says, will improve the treatment and
management of stroke survivors.
Nkeng adds, “I see a lot wealthy
Nigerians, especially politicians, who come to England to spend 10,000
pounds a week for stroke rehabilitation. Many Nigerians who can afford
it are travelling abroad for treatment. We can duplicate these
facilities in Nigeria. One person in this country can do it. Only if
they have both political and moral will to do so.”
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