Paediatrician advises mothers on self-medication, child health assumption

A paediatrician and child health expert, Dr Faith Bello-Mojad, has advised mothers to desist from self-medication and assumptions on their children’s health conditions.

Bello-Mojad, who works with the MercyWay Medical Centre, Ejigbo, a private health facility, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos.

She urged mothers to always patronise health facilities and seek medical attentions on health conditions of their children to avert the adverse effects of wrong medication due to wrong assumption.

According to her, self-medication and wrong medical diagnosis/assumption were counterproductive, as they may lead to complications and death of patients.

“The dangers of self-medication can be life-threatening when inaccurate dosages are taken.

“When you estimate your own dosage, you are at risk for taking enough to result in an accidental overdose.

“Conversely, if you take a dosage that is too small, it is not likely to be effective and the patient may become sicker.

“Because children may not say exactly what’s happening to them; it’s important to diagnose every case of their illness by relevant medical personnel before drugs are prescribed to avoid wrong drugs administration,” she said.

The child health expert said most mothers always assume that indications like fever, vomiting and abdominal pains in children were malaria symptoms.

She decried such assumption, saying that it could be an indication of gastroenteritis in children or that the child was having other health conditions.

Bello-Mojad also said such symptoms could be infection that affects the gall bladder of the child.

“Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the digestive tract that results in vomiting, diarrhea or both, and is sometimes accompanied by fever or abdominal cramps.

“If you notice that a child is having fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, yellowness of the eyes, quickly seek a doctor’s attention.

“These symptoms can be misconstrued for malaria; and this is advice for mothers who assume the health condition of their children when they see these signs without proper diagnosis,” she said.

Bello-Mojad described children as a blessing from God that deserve to be given proper attention to secure their future.