A General Physician, Dr Oyegbile Jide, has urged the general public to seek appropriate malaria treatment from hospitals instead of engaging in self medications to avoid complications.
Oyegbile, who works at the Lagos-based hospital, Perez Hospital, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
He spoke in commemoration of the 2019 World Malaria Day, marked annually on April 25, with this year’s theme “Zero Malaria Starts with Me”.
According to him, there are different ways of managing malaria parasites depending on the case presented at the hospital and individuals.
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“A lot of people neglect the need to report cases of malaria to the hospital, instead they believe it is a common sickness that can be managed at home.
“Which is where the big complication starts from due to inadequate care, there are several symptoms of malaria and it differs among people.
“It could be fever, which is the commonest symptoms, vomiting, abdominal pain, anorexia, joint weakness and pains.
“When the patient come in for proper test, it will be easy to detect the exact type of parasites, either 1+ or 2+ in order to prescribe the necessary treatment appropriately,“ he said.
The doctor said that the parasite affects people individually depending on the immune system of such individual.
“We need to understand that some people’s 1+ systematically will look like 4+, such patient will be managed using the knowledge of chemical history.
“And such individual will go back home and decide to tell others to use the same medication, which might not be suitable in treating that fellow.
“This is why it is better to go to the hospital when you are sick, self medication is not an option; excessive intake of panadol will only bring down the fever.
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“Malaria treatment should not be delayed in children because it can lead to complications like convulsion, which can easily be avoided,” he said.
He said that poverty and ignorance had been major challenges facing the management of malaria in Nigeria.
“Most people do not go to the hospital due to unavailability of fund and some feel it is more expensive to treat from the hospital than self medication.
“But people need to understand that by self medicating or staying away from the hospitals leads to complications that will cost more than the initial treatment,“ he said.
Oyegbile however urged the public to always go for regular medical checkups in order to ascertain their health conditions and take further steps to improve on them. (NAN)
