Medical facilities are simply not available; and in the few cases where health-care is available, it is not affordable to many. Pushed to the wall, the average Nigerian soon begins to rationalize the efficacy of traditional medicine, which, because of its largely unregulated nature, we may never know its efficacy or otherwise. If the situation is such that a man cannot afford the simple analgesic, he must comfort himself that “agbo” is better. That explains why many Nigerians, particularly in the rural areas, die like poisoned rats. Seek no further, then any explanation for why the life expectancy in Nigeria is among the lowest in the entire world. Our near-lack of medical facilities and the high rate of illiteracy travel only in one direction – they lead to early death!
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his writer is not a Doctor – Traditional, Orthodox or Academic! But today, we are delving into the field of medicine – an area in which we apparently have two left hands. We shall be careful not to go deep into the area of prescription because you never can tell where quackery sets in.
Many would rather remain journalists than be caught as quack doctors. While the latter sentence people to their early graves, the former are still largely in the business of disseminating useful information that help people live longer.
While the quack doctor is prone to making his fast buck and moving on, the journalist is restricted to the narrow confines of “seeing something and saying something” in which, like the teacher of old, his reward is largely in heaven.
In the course of duty we came across a beautiful lecture, the substance of which we shall bring to you, almost verbatim, was delivered by Prof. Chen Horin, Chief Executive of the Beijing Military Hospital.
It is written in plain and simple English language. Before going into the lecture proper, we shall have a quick aside and perhaps, provide some food for thought for our seemingly pathetic situation in Nigeria.
Who says miracles don’t happen these days? Such must be told that any day we sleep and wakeup, it is by miracle and by the grace of God. Far into the 21st Century, a good segment of our society still lives in the Dark Ages, as far as medical care is concerned.
Medical facilities are simply not available; and in the few cases where health-care is available, it is not affordable to many. Pushed to the wall, the average Nigerian soon begins to rationalize the efficacy of traditional medicine, which, because of its largely unregulated nature, we may never know its efficacy or otherwise.
If the situation is such that a man cannot afford the simple analgesic, he must comfort himself that “agbo” is better. That explains why many Nigerians, particularly in the rural areas, die like poisoned rats.
Seek no further, then any explanation for why the life expectancy in Nigeria is among the lowest in the entire world. Our near-lack of medical facilities and the high rate of illiteracy travel only in one direction – they lead to early death!
Contrariwise, one looks slightly aside and finds that some of the best brains in the medical profession are Nigerians and most of them were trained in Nigeria before they moved out in search of greener pastures. We are the potters and yet we have no pots to cook.
In the same tradition of importing our exports, we end up sending-off our Doctors and Nurses, only for us to go to their new places to pay them to treat us. Short of outright self-help, therefore, our eyes must be open to all avenues that can keep us alive a little longer
Let us listen to Prof. Horin’s lecture and use it as applicable. This life-saving lecture, which is on the important issue of the PROSTATE, is in two parts.
PREAMBLE: The Prostate Gland and its effect on us, (men only). Read it and apply, especially the part on diet. It is useful for all MEN over-40:
A useful article/talk on Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) or in simple terms, Enlarged Prostate. Diet is the most important part of this talk, which is something within our control; and it works.
I am here to speak with you on Prostate. The topic is misleading. Is prostate strictly for men? Yes, ONLY men have prostate and ONLY men over 40 years but the healthcare enlightenment is for everyone.
There is no woman who does not know a man 40 years and above, father, uncle, brother, son, friend, neighbor, colleague, etc. Essentially what I will be doing today is health promotion. Responsible health promotion must provide three things: (1) Information; (2) Reassurance and (3) A plan of action
Let me start with a background on prostate health.
Everyone has a pair of kidneys. The job of the kidney is to remove waste. It is the waste management company of your body. Every day, your blood passes through the kidney several times to be filtered. As the blood is filtered, urine is formed and stored in a temporary storage tank called the urinary bladder.
If there were to be no urinary bladder, as a man walks on the road, urine will be dropping. Now think of the plumbing work in your house. Think of the urinary bladder as the overhead storage tank. From the storage tank, a good plumber will run pipes to other parts of the house, including the kitchen.
God in His wisdom ran pipes from our urinary bladder to the tip of the penis. The pipe is called the urethra. Just below the bladder and surrounding the urethra is a little organ called the prostate gland.
The prostate gland is the size of a walnut and weighs about 20grams. Its job is to make the seminal fluid which is stored in the seminal vesicle. During sexual intercourse, seminal fluid comes down the urethra and mixes with the sperms produced in the testicles to form the semen. So semen technically is not sperm. It is sperm plus seminal fluid. The seminal fluid lubricates the sperm.
After age 40, for reasons that may be hormonal, the prostate gland begins to enlarge. From 20 grams it may grow to almost 100 grams. As it enlarges, it squeezes the urethra and the man begins to notice changes in the way he urinates.
If you have a son under 10, if he has a little mischief like we all did at that age, when he comes out to urinate, he can target the ceiling and jet will hit target. Call his father to do same, he cannot. His urine stream is weak, cannot travel a long distance and sometimes may come straight down on his legs. So he may need to stand in awkward position to urinate.
Not many men will be worried that their urine stream cannot hit the ceiling. Toilets are on the floor and not on the ceiling. But other symptoms begin to set in.
Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and former Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com
