By Enyeribe Ejiogu
For the great mass of Nigerians who were deeply challenged by the economic hardship in the country, the outgoing year was hectic, tasking and took a heavy toll on their health. Alongside, the cost of basic healthcare kept going up as drugs and other medicaments are simply imported and always responded to upticks in the exchange rate of the naira to the US dollar.
Even in the face of this reality, Chief Medical Director of Blue Sky Hospital, Idimu, Lagos, Dr Oluwafemi Olofinshawo, strongly advises that every person must endeavour to do regular health checks, to avoid sudden death or other debilitating illnesses. He explains why people should no longer shy away from health checks because some of the basic tests cost less than the price of a bottle of beer, one catfish or even one sharwarma.
We are about to get into 2025. What advice can you offer to people regarding their health and why is necessary to do medical checks?
It is necessary for people to do basic general checks for them to really know their state of health. The care we give to our cars, if we give our body half of such level of committed and dedicated care and attention, people will not be dying the way they die because we don’t take care of our health the way it should be.
If you use your car very well for about three months and you want to travel with the car, I’m very sure that you will first take it to a mechanic for him to check the car for you if there is anything that needs to be fixed. But we don’t take care of our health or our body like that. It is just not right.
It is a great concern for medical practitioners people do not take care of their bodies the way they take care of their cars.
I always tell people that when you park your car, it is parked and everything is off and it is not working. But is not like that for the body because it works 24 hours daily. When we sleeping, our brain, lungs, liver, heart are all working, The legs and arms still move when we are sleeping. The muscles make us change position while asleep. So, virtually all parts of the body are still at work when we are asleep.
So, when some patients tell me that they are having pains in the legs, and the person is 50 years old, it is the same leg he has been using to walk for 50 years. And I ask, how have you been caring for that leg? Nothing! So the care we give our body is not adequate and most of us are guilty of this. Now, often times, like I mentioned, people are scared, from time to time they have concerns about going to the doctor because they think it is too costly.
Is that a fact?
Medical tests are not as expensive as people think. Even if you don’t have money to run the basic general tests, you can just check your sugar level and blood pressure. Then, maybe they do full blood analysis for you to check your blood. With just N7,000, you do all these things I’ve mentioned.
So, I always that anybody that is 40 years and above, even if you can’t do anything at all, check your blood pressure, check your blood sugar, at least every 6 months. And do the full blood count.
I mean for just N7000, which less than some men spend on two or three bottles of beer, excluding the fried meat, pepper soup and the other things they eat as they drink the beer and watch European League matches at viewing centres. A man will take his female friend to an eatery and spend N25,000 or more, just to impress her but will never think of spending N10,000 for basic health checks. Women will spend huge sums on hair attachment but will not regularly do PAP smear, to check the health status of their cervix and womb.
Assuming that somebody wants to do something extra, what tests can the person do for a sum of N50,000?
Then in that case the person can do basic medical tests. With 50,000, you can check your liver, kidneys, you do full blood analysis, lipid profile (that is check your cholesterol level), urine analysis and in addition check blood sugar and blood pressure. These are basic tests. You should this at least once a year. If you are not in the category of people whose parents have any of these ailments, such as diabetes, you can do all these at least once in a year.
When you do the tests and any problem is detected, then you will be referred to a doctor. That is the great benefit of running those tests. If you do the kidney function test (which checks the creatinine level) and there is an issue with your kidneys, the test result will show it. It will be picked up early. And necessary precautions will be taken, to prevent the kidneys from getting too damaged. If the cholesterol is high, the doctor will tell you what to do. So, those are the advantages of running such investigations.
How often should these be done?
Like I said earlier, when you are 40 years and above, I advise that you check the blood sugar and blood pressure at least once in six months.
In some instances, especially if your parents or near relations have history of diabetes, hypertension and other heart diseases. In that case the person is said to be predisposed. This means that you are at a higher risk level to such illnesses and therefore need to do more regular checks. You can even buy and keep your own digital blood pressure and blood sugar meters, to help do and record the readings, which you can the share with your doctor. Life has no duplicate.
Are there other medical checks a person can do, because these days you hear about prostate testing?
If you now have enough money, the prostate test you mentioned is something that every man who is 40 years and above should also check once a year. Once in a year, a man should do the prostate specific antigen test, PSA. If there is any increase, because there is a level it should be, you run to your doctor. He may request for more tests to find out what is really happening, probably send you for a prostate scan. For women, they should do mammography for breast cancer check, as well as PAP Smear for cervical cancer. They should check every two to three years – that is they are not at high risk – that is the mother of close relation did not have any of the two cancers or died from either one.
cancer test every year.
If you were to hear that there is a move to encourage people to sponsor such tests, what would be your reaction as a health professional?
It would be a very good thing because a lot of people are very much in need of these tests. But they cannot afford them. About two weeks ago, my hospital did a free medical test and treatment. A lot of people came. Many had hypertension and did not even know. Others had diabetics and they didn’t know. It was after we had done the test that we told them. They never had the opportunity to run those tests. So, if you can now have people who are willing to sponsor such tests, it will be a very good relief to those that have them and they cannot afford them.