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VP Osinbajo Launches Patients’ Bill Of Rights To Protect Vulnerable Nigerians

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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has launched Nigeria’s first Patients’ Bill of Rights developed by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to protect vulnerable Nigerians.

Speaking at the launch on Tuesday in Abuja, the Vice President said Patients’ Bill of Rights is crucial as it borders on human lives and respect for human dignity.
Osinbajo said respect for patients and human lives explain how a country values its citizens and this is the responsibility of not only healthcare practitioners but includes the entire healthcare value chains.

The Vice President added that government is aware of the acute problem of the Nigerian healthcare challenges and government is putting the right policies to address them.

He further said healthcare is not just about government funding and provision of infrastructure but also includes what patients perceive as what they are getting out of it.

The Director General of the CPC, Barrister Babatunde Irukera said the rights encapsulated in the Bill have always existed in different laws and the CPC simply aggregated the rights for reference purposes.
Irukera said the Bill of Rights would help eliminate quacks in the country’s health care sector as it will serve as a weapon in the hand of patients to demand better healthcare services.
“Protecting rights in the healthcare sector is of particular importance and is a defining feature of how society should, and must operate,” he said.
The CPC boss said the Council took interest in protecting consumers in the health care sector considering that life expectancy depends on the quality of health care delivery in the country.

He said no matter the quality of health care infrastructure, if the right attitude and quality services are absent, quality health care will fail.

“We take a definite step in ensuring people’s rights in the healthcare sector are truly respected and protected in part because no one in our country is insulated or immunised from needing medical services,” he said.

The Bill of Rights seen by Daily Trust outlined 12 rights that patients are entitled to, including right to relevant information, right to timely access to medical records, right to transparent billing, right to privacy, right to clean health care environment and right to be treated with respect.

Other rights include right to receive urgent care, right to reasonable visitation, right to decline care, right to decline or accept to participate in medical research, right to quality care and right to complain and express dissatisfaction regarding services received.

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Former South African President Jacob Zuma involved in car crash

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South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma has been involved in a car crash overnight after a vehicle transporting him was hit by a drunk driver, police said on Friday.

Zuma, however, escaped from the accident unhurt.

The car crash happened just hours after electoral officials barred Zuma from standing in the May 29 general election, further stoking tensions in the run-up to the polls.

The driver’s car “collided with former president Mr Jacob Zuma’s official armoured state vehicle”, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said.

The 51-year-old man was arrested in KwaZulu Natal province “for drunken driving, as well as on a charge of reckless and negligent driving”, SAPS said.

Zuma and his bodyguards escaped uninjured and the 81-year-old was taken to his place of residence.

Zuma, a former veteran of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), was forced out of office in 2018 under a cloud of corruption allegations but still wields political clout.

In December he announced he would be campaigning for the opposition uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in an attempt to relaunch his career — a major blow to the ANC.

On Wednesday the ANC launched a new court application against MK, after losing an initial bid to have it disqualified.

The ANC says that MK’s name and logo are similar to those of the now disbanded apartheid-era military wing of the ANC once led by Nelson Mandela, and that this could deceive or confuse voters.

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Delta monarch declared wanted over murder of army personnel turns himself in

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Clement Ikolo Oghenerukevwe, monarch of Ewu-Urhobo kingdom in Delta, has reported to the police, hours after the military named him as one of the wanted persons for the murder of 17 army personnel in Okuama.

Bright Edafe, Delta state police spokesperson, confirmed Oghenerukevwe’s surrender to newsmen on Friday.

Edafe said the monarch turned himself in on Thursday.

“We have already handed him over to the military, they were the ones that declared him wanted,” the spokesperson said.

The Defence Headquarters had on Thursday declared Oghenerukevwe among eight persons wanted in connection to the murder of the army personnel.

Among those declared wanted are Ekpekpo Arthur, a professor of physics at the Delta State University; Akeywiru Omotegbono, Andaowei Bakrikri, Igoli Ebi, a lady; Akata David, Sinclear Oliki, and Reuben Baru.

Before turning himself in, the monarch released a statement to plead his innocence.

“I am very surprised that my name as the monarch of the kingdom will appear in the list of wanted persons. I have no hand in the killings, I have no hand in encouraging anybody to kill anybody, it is against my philosophy as a human being and my faith as a Catholic,” he said.

“It is a serious crime against humanity and they need to look at the appropriate places and do thorough investigation to know all those who have committed this and bring them to book and let justice prevail.

“I am not a party to this and like I have said earlier, the state government is aware of the turbulence I have been going through and as I speak, an arrangement was made by the government to invite the opponents recently just before this happenings.”

After the killing of the army personnel, President Bola Tinubu and the military high command promised that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

Speaking during the burial ceremony of the late personnel, Taoreed Lagbaja, chief of army staff (COAS), said it was “highly demoralising” that the soldiers were killed by those they were equipped to protect.

The army chief added that it took over 72 hours of search to recover the vital organs of some of the deceased soldiers.

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Bus conveying 46 passengers crashes in South Africa – 8-year-old is sole survivor

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Forty-five passengers died on Thursday when a bus conveying them crashed through a barrier of a bridge in South Africa.

Only an eight-year-old child survived accident with multiple injuries.

The bus was said to have caught fire after it fell off a bridge approximately 300km north of Johannesburg in the north-eastern Limpopo province.

BBC reports that the passengers were pilgrims travelling from Botswana’s capital Gaborone to an Easter service in the town of Moria.

The vehicle lost control and went off a bridge on the Mmamatlakala mountain pass between Mokopane and Marken, around 300km (190 miles) north of Johannesburg, according to South African public broadcaster SABC.

Speaking with reporters after visiting the scene, Sindisiwe Chikunga, South Africa’s minister of transportation, said the government will carry out an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time,” Chikunga said.

We continue to urge responsible driving at all times with heightened alertness as more people are on our roads this Easter weekend.”

In his Easter message to South Africans, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on citizens to “do our best to make this a safe Easter”.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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