Pain Free: NAUTH Establishes Pain Care Clinic (Photos)
The World Health Organization has identified “pain” as the fifth vital sign which medical practioners and health facilities need to understand to be able to manage pain efficiently.
In line with this, the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital(NAUTH) has established a pain and palliative care clinic.
This was made known at the NAUTH, FMOH(Federal Ministry of Health) pain free hospital initiative, which was held yesterday, 3rd July. The program which is in its second edition, is a training session organized for the health workers in NAUTH to help manage pain in patients.
The coordinator of the pain and palliative care clinic NAUTH, Dr. Chuks Ojiakor , said that the new clinic which started two months ago has seen over 500 patients and helped to reduce pain in patients. Dr. Chuks narrated that there has been a tremendous improvement among patients with pain related ailments especially pains during childbirth, sports injuries and so on.
The pain Doctor also talked about a few challenges the new department has in terms of time and space.
He said, “we only have one day which is on Monday to see patients and another Friday for intervention because sometimes , the theater is busy, so is not enough for us”.
He talked about the lack of equipment , not just in NAUTH but in countries like Nigeria.He said they have reached out to individuals within Nnewi and the state to assist in providing these equipments.
”We hope to have modern equipments that will help every patient to be pain free”, Dr Orjiakor explained.
The pain and palliative clinic is only available in tertiary institutions like NAUTH. The training of health workers is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Health and the American Cancer Society, which is expected to last for twelve months.
Onyinye Okeke
Dorathy Akabogu
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