Health risk: Lagos tasks schools on regular medical screening of students, teachers

The Lagos State Government has urged schools across the state to put in place a proper health policy that will ensure regular medical screening of students and teachers to reduce the risk of sudden emergencies.

The government, while making the call, posited that such a health policy would also assist the schools in keeping medical records of students and teachers alike for necessary treatment when the need arose in a crisis.

Deputy Director, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Quality Assurance Unit, Mr Remi Abdul, made the call during the one-day health seminar themed “Nutrition, School Sanitation, and Staff/Students Medical Screening as an Important Aspect of the School Health Scheme,” organised by Ago Medical Centre in collaboration with Grandmates School for schools in Oshodi-Isolo LCDA.

Abdul, in his presentation, noted that parents of students who run into crises would want to hold the school responsible for negligence when their ill health was not made official, but said it was better that before students were allowed to engage in sporting activities, schools should conduct tests and not for any reason force them to participate when they declined to do so.

This was just as he urged that a standby ambulance should be put on the ground during inter-house sports, as, according to him, it is very common now that students are faced with high blood pressure (BP) and hypertension just like adults.

“During inter-house sports, schools should ensure that there is a standby ambulance on the ground. It is very common now that students are faced with high blood pressure and hypertension, just like adults,” he said.

Besides, Abdul advised the schools to also conduct medical screening on those engaged in selling foods and other consumables to students in schools, saying such was necessary because students with unknown medical challenges would perform poorly during examinations.

The Medical Director, Ago Medical Centre, Dr Kola Afolabi, earlier in his remarks, attributed the high cases of diphtheria in the northern parts of the country to the low level of immunisations, noting that about 11 states and 59 local governments had been confirmed to be affected.

“The mortality rate is about 10 to 15 per cent. It’s quite dangerous; we need to bring the community together. That is why we are bringing the private and public schools in Oshodi-Isolo to participate in the programme,” Afolabi said.

He, however, stressed the need for the government and other major stakeholders to embark on a massive education of parents and their wards on the benefits of immunisations to their well-being and quality of life.

A registered nurse and a public health specialist, Esther Samuel, who works in the Ministry of Health, stated in her presentation on “Diphtheria: Early Diagnosis, Timely Intervention, and Prevention,” that diphtheria is one of the deadly diseases that affects all ages, saying that the best way of getting out of it and reducing the prevalence in Nigeria is through immunisation.

According to her, diphtheria affects the respiratory tracks and can also affect the skin, saying that the most common and deadly one is respiratory diphtheria, which, when contracted by an individual, “destroys the normal cells, and all the dead cells now accumulate and therefore block the respiratory tract, making the individual have difficulty swallowing and breathing.”

“Diphtheria should be taken seriously, and my advice for everybody is to go for the immunisation, both young and old,” she said.

She, however, said that pregnant women can take the immunisation during their last trimester, adding that adults who are older than 19 should take a shot every 10 years to stay safe.

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