Diarrhea, Greatest Killer Of Children- Expert

A medical doctor with the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Dr Paul Dienye has identified gastrointestinal diseases as the greatest killers of children under five years of age.

Dr Dienye who is also Chairman, Education committee of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria, stated this in an exclusive interview with The Tide at the Continuing Professional Development Programme for all medical doctors in the state.

The medical consultant also said that children die from dehydration and electrolyte imbalances when afflicted with gastrointestinal diseases especially diarrhea diseases.

He disclosed that may doctors do not know how to correct electrolyte imbalances in children, pointing out that this was one of the reasons for the continuous education programme for doctors.

According to him the objective of the development programme was to ensure that Doctors keep abreast with happenings and new findings in medicine, so that you don’t find doctors rotting away.”

On the importance of the lectures, he said, “medicine is dynamic, stressing that there was the need for doctors to up date their knowledge to be in good practice.”

He also said, the Medical and Dental council of Nigeria decided that all doctors who are in practice must have at least 10 hours of continuous medical education every year to qualify for renewal of their licenses for practice adding that failure to do this would amount to being called a quack and “no doctor properly trained wants to be called a quack” he stated.

This professional development scheme, he said was also essential in that it would improve care of the patients, “the latest findings would be applied all the time in the treatment of patients,” he noted.

A participant at the programme who spoke with The Tide, Dr Okey Chukwuka applauded the initiative of the Medical and Dental council of Nigeria saying the lectures would go a long way to improve his practice.

He stated that as a physician, it is essential for a doctor to find ways to care for his patients to bring about the patients’ expected result and not for the doctor to display his dexterity and disappoint the patient.