Though the incidence of stroke is increasing globally, the situation in Nigeria is more pathetic, experts have said. They say Nigerians, especially, suffer stroke due to preventable circumstances such as ignorance, undetected and poorly-managed conditions like hypertension, diabetes and lack of health care facilities.
They state that 80 per cent of the 160,000 cases of stroke that occur in the country yearly can be prevented if there are well-equipped hospitals and if Nigerians living with high blood pressure and diabetes manage their health properly.
Though there is no national statistics on the number of Nigerians suffering stroke, neurophysiotherapist and lecturer at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Akoka, Dr. Caleb Gbiri, says the population of Nigerians that suffer stroke is on the increase.
He says unlike before,when he saw few patients, these days, he attends to at least five to six new cases of stroke in his practice every month.
Gbiri states,“Recent statistics collated from hospitals suggests that more than 0.001 per cent of the Nigerian population suffer stroke yearly. This means that more than 160,000 Nigerians develop stroke yearly. We have not added the statistics of those that herbalists, pastors; Imams and so-called traditional healers manage.
“This figure is just too high for only one disease.”
The expert links this increase to ignorance. According to him, the majority of Nigerians who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol content in their system and end-stage diabetes and diseases that predispose to stroke do not even know that they have it.
He says,“ It is disheartening to know that 80 per cent out of the 160,000 cases of stroke can be prevented if only people who are have hypertension, diabetes or heart diseases can manage their health. What we see now is that most Nigerians are not ready to modify their lifestyle to the reality on ground.”
He adds that a prevailing factor why stroke patients do not survive is the myth associated with the disease in the country. According to him, investigations conducted by experts revealed that more than 50 per cent of those who suffer stroke seek medical care from quacks and unqualified persons in Nigeria.
Gbiri states,“Stroke is a brain attack, not a spiritual attack. The belief that stroke is a spiritual attack will not make an individual who has just suffered his first stroke come to the hospital. One goes go to spiritual homes to solve spiritual problems. Stroke is a condition in which the brain cells suddenly die because of a lack of oxygen and not because one is struck by lightning.
“Stroke occurs when blood flow in the body has been obstructed or there is a rupture in the artery that feeds the brain. It is a medical problem, not a satanic problem.”
Corroborating his view, stroke nurse consultant with Kings College Hospital, London, Mrs. Gloria Nkeng, whose organisation, Strokecare International, championed a road show in Lagos on Tuesday, as part of activities to mark the World Stroke Day, says the incidence of stroke continues to rise among Nigerians due to poor health-seeking behaviour.
Narrating a personal experience, Nkeng notes that ignorance reigns over knowledge when it comes to seeking treatment for the disease.
She says,“I once saw a 40-year old banker with chronic stroke who had been bedridden for two years because he had been misled. When he suffered the first stroke, he boarded a plane to Enugu, instead of heading for the hospital. He managed the condition at a traditional healer place for two years in his village.
“He was later brought to the hospital where we discovered that it was high blood pressure that caused it. It could have been detected and managed properly to prevent paralysis if he had just gone to a hospital the first day he had it.
“That is how ignorance is killing Nigerians daily.”
The Nigerian government has also not helped the situation going by the poor state of health facilities, according to the UK-trained nurse.
Asked to compare stroke care facilities in Nigeria with what obtains abroad, she quickly says, “It is incomparable. We cannot compare even the hospital beds that we have in the UK with the hospital beds here.
“The standard practice to resuscitate a stroke patient in England is 20 minutes from the period that the ambulance picks the patient up to when he/she is admitted to the stroke ward. During these minutes, we would have done a brain scan and body scan, cut through the necessary vessels and the patient stabilised in a stroke unit where there are experts, heart and blood pressure monitors and there is an alarm if anything changes.
“Even after the patient is discharged, there are experts in the community waiting to give support at home. Do you have these here?”
She also notes that the number of Nigerians going abroad for stroke care is increasing and thus calls on government and well-meaning Nigerians to establish stroke care centres in major cities. This, she says, will improve the treatment and management of stroke survivors.
Nkeng adds, “I see a lot wealthy Nigerians, especially politicians, who come to England to spend 10,000 pounds a week for stroke rehabilitation. Many Nigerians who can afford it are travelling abroad for treatment. We can duplicate these facilities in Nigeria. One person in this country can do it. Only if they have both political and moral will to do so.”
Commercial activities in major markets in Lagos State were Tuesday grounded following the installation of Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, daughter of former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, as the Iyaloja General of Nigeria.
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