Policymakers in the Health Sector have been called to make asthma treatment drugs available, accessible, and affordable for effective therapy.
A physician with University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Doctor Ekele Robert said this in an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt.
Dr. Robert who described asthma as a non- communicable disease which affects the lungs identified cough, tiredness, and hyperventilation as symptoms of the disease.
She enumerated the causative factors as genetic and environmental which include cold and pollution.
The physician explained the means by which the disease is managed and controlled to prevent complication.
“So the controller is the medication you can take everyday to ensure you don’t have an attack. So you can take it everyday to prevent exacebertion that is preventing the worsening of the symptoms.
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Reliever are the ones you use when you have attack. So when you have exacerabetation of symptoms you use the reliever.
The main duty for maintenance or let me use the term controller which is the inhaler treatment, serves as the maintenance therapy, it is what you are to take everyday,” she noted.
Doctor Robert advocated awareness campaign to inform the people on the relevance of inhaling treatment of asthma.
She advised that any individual who is under asthma attack should be given prompt attention to save life.
“If you have someone under attack, the first thing would be to make sure you take the person away from the trigger.
And the next is to use the inhaler but at that point, the person may not be able to use the inhaler well.
That is another thing that also hinder treatment. Having the correct inhaler technique and special device would help the person under attack by making the administration of the medication easier.
My advice would be, use the inhaler. Inhaler Corticosteroids can be used with special device on the patient and if the patient does not respond to treatment take him to the hospital”, she concluded.
The physician called on local manufacturers to produce home-made drugs that are potent to serve as alternatives to the exotic and expensive medication as cheaper rate.
