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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 18:35:11
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| Am sorry, i missed out a letter not. I will adjust my postings |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 18:41:11
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| Thank you! |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 18:49:32
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| You are welcome |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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dave
Ireland
89 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 18:59:55
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What you shjould also point out Serenata is that all 6 guys underwent the drug testing on their own free will. It happens all the time and the participants are well paid for acting as guinea pigs. I dont condone drug testing on humans but these people had the right to choose
quote:
Originally posted by serenata
quote:
Originally posted by kassma
what happened???
6 men became severely ill and almost died after a medicament testing at Northwick Park Hospital/London. It was really a very bad thing. But as we all know, any time our governments (European or US) impose restrictions on the big companies in order to protect their citizens (which may follow now), poorer countries have to pay for it.
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 19:04:16
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| I know that the trials that take place in Africa are almost free may be less that 5 pounds sterling. Cheap compared to 2000.00 pounds these people were each paid. To be more precise in the Gambia. I am not even sure if they are paid anything. They are usually provided meals for the period they are at the clinic and cost of bus fare home. |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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kassma
334 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 19:06:14
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quote:
Originally posted by kondorong
I know that the trials that take place in Africa are almost free may be less that 5 pounds sterling. Cheap compared to 2000.00 pounds these people were each paid. To be more precise in the Gambia. I am not even sure if they are paid anything. They are usually provided meals for the period they are at the clinic and cost of bus fare home.
so the government probably know this and does nothing else but talk smack!! i want our president whipped after he's thrown out of office  |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 19:17:14
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| Everey research is sanctioned by the government. It is no rocket science. The other problem is we do not have Gambians in those research projects who nkow what is going on other than as field officers collecting blood or giving out pills. |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 19:53:00
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Kassa
do not be carried away by the 'alarmists'. No one is forced to take part in any medical trial in the gambia irrespective of how much it cost. also the research is conducted/owned by those who fund it, on always the government .
whilst some concerns have been raised about MRC i dont think thats the case. the rules are followed and gambians/west african scientist are invovled in all research. |
Edited by - njucks on 24 Mar 2006 19:54:35 |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 20:17:31
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nJUCKS
would like to disagree with you. Yes ther are west africans, yes, goverment sanctions it, yes people are free to be part of it.
However, do they know what they are being asked to be part of, there is no governmmt scientist in the whole of the gambia who can challenge the Doctors, the research is done by companies and not government. Besides, why is MRC only seriously involved in the gambia outside of the UK. We are the largest UK laboratory and we have contibuted a lot to drug research yet we are dying of preventable diseases. West africans are paid less than 20% of thier British counterparts. I will give you examples if need be. But i dont want to fire all my cannons yet.(laugh laugh) |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
Edited by - kondorong on 24 Mar 2006 21:53:57 |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 22:09:20
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kondorong
i'm sorry but i must respectfully disagree with you and say that you are simply wrong.by not coming up with the evidence you create an atmosphere of mistrust and perhaps fear.all your comments are misleading. have you ever come acrosss any person who was deliberated infected with a disease by the MRC? you are simply guessing, if not fire your cannons please .
i myself have met numberous scientists, africans, who have come to gambia to be part of a research. i met a senegalese PhD student who did some of her thesis work there. two months ago i saw a BBC program interviewing a Ghanian scientist on some pioneering work on meningistis which he did in the gambia and it is being used in Bangladesh. non of these people are paid by companies.
of course the pay scale is not the same. surely you must understand this. do you think the workers of Texaco/Shell in Angola are paid the same as Texaco/Shell in London. do you think UN staff employed locally are paid the same as those in New York, or those posted there from abroad? MRC does not employ british people from the gambia, they are employed from UK and posted there! just like any international organisation it has a differential payscale.even civil servants posted to the provinces are not paid the same by the Gambia Government!!!!! you might not believe it but there is an Ethics committee and MRC doesnt do anything not approved by GG.
collaboration between the gambia government and MRC, WHO etc is the reason why most of us have not had polio, measles, tetanus etc!! but the opportunities are even greater if you think of the potential benefits of exposing our newly established medical school/students to some of the finest researchers in the world. |
Edited by - njucks on 24 Mar 2006 22:11:50 |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 22:32:15
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May be you are mising the point. I have not said that there is any foul play. However, just because Gambians are incompetent to monitor the reseach does not mean one has not occured already.The question that was raised was the fear that research from the death of some british citizens might end up in Africa.
My contribution is that even though Gambia GOvt. sanctions these researches, they are not capable of monitoring them. They lack the skilled man power to do so. That is a fact. There are MRC british national hired in the Gambia and are being paid highre than gambians or West Africans hired in the Gambia. This is a fact.
I personally do not like to call names and peoples privacy is important. The research in the Gambia are paid by some companies who operate through MRC. This is a fact also.
Infact MRC is the only active organised and unionised workforce. The relationship between management and staff is very tense and the worst i have seen in the Gambia. This is a fact. May be you have not worked there. The grass is always greener on the other side. For over 50 years, MRC had no staff code. This is a fact. You just muddle through.
You may talk to the Chairman of the Staff Union for facts on the ground. Because you will not find me wanting.
If you want to tell me that because there is an ethics committe so we should rest on our laurels then who are we to talk about improving lives of gambians because we have a president in place whois elected to do this. Having a commiteee guarantees nothing. In the kingdom of the blind, one eye is the king. |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
Edited by - kondorong on 24 Mar 2006 22:55:06 |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 22:59:47
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kondorong thats fair enough, perhaps i misunderstood ,
so we will wait for the evidence of any medical misbehavior.
there is nothing the gambia has enough capacity of and this is not unique to MRC. we drink water that is 'tested' by NAWEC's labs and Water Resources? we import rice and cooking oil that is 'tested' by Custom's and Public Health labs, etc? lack of capacity then becomes a universal problem. we just have to trust the system based on its resources
in the kingdom of the blind, two eyes is GOD,... |
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 24 Mar 2006 : 23:19:40
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I dont think we should wait for evidence to occur before we make changes. We need to be proactive rather than reactive. Who knows if one has not already occured. Unless we police them, they will not come to us with failures.
Besides a family memebr was diagnosed to have diabetes and she was told her sugar levels were too high. On the whole she had low sugar and when she took the dose which was supposed to lower it, she collapsed because it brought it further down. Sugar level testing is basic medical science. You can do it your self with a glucometer.
I dont like the tone of your last posting because it is a lazy approach to development. "..trust the system based on its resources.." By the way just for your information i have played a part in MRC having a staff code afer 50 years of operations in the Gambia. Even the Civil Service had one that was working.
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“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
Edited by - kondorong on 24 Mar 2006 23:22:36 |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2006 : 00:55:35
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Hi
It is just another unfortunate incident in Africa.We all know that people call themselves Muslims or Christians but Africa still practice its ancient religion alongside their faiths.We all know many muslims belief in (1)Jalang as powerful and likewise christians.(2)Witchcraft is deep rooted and not even "MAADEW" can take that belief from Africans/even some white people belief there are witches.(3)Black magic,(4) the oul is still regarded as a witch incarnated, (5)superstitious believes are stronger than faiths in Islam or christianity....People are believed to have devil wives and some are believed to have power to fly like twins.
Ikept saying since childhood that if I was able to fly,I was going to make home village the heaven on earth and the Gambia will be every body's Babylon,but alas I cannot fly except when I enter a plane.
There was no test carried out to esterblish the circumstances that led to the incident but I hope the madical authorities will do their best to help and find the root cause of the problem.
Please God forbid Gambia to carry out medical tests on its people.We don't have the best mordern facilities to use if it fails or has problem.
Mankajang Janyanfara |
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BornAfrican
United Kingdom
119 Posts |
Posted - 25 Mar 2006 : 02:09:26
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obviously, there is something wrong out there in Basse. 80 pupils cannot collapse and faint just like that. when things like this happen, we are forced to think. this is when opened minded people loose hours of sleep just to ponder over what could be the cause of such an incident. this is what the health authorities should be doing.
i did bring MRC's issue because i want to see if there are people who think about that Research council as i do. thank god, there are Gambians out there who will one day kick them (MRC) out if they have the capability. if the Gambia is not equipped enough to test those children for a foul play, we have a neighbour (senegal) who are more advanced than us in the field of medics. why can't we ask for their help?
infact, who knows why AIDS is targetting Africans more than any other people? we are the most vulnerable people. MRC needs to be investigated thoroughly. Western students who come to the Gambia for their thesis and other researches need to be vetted by our authorities.
unfortunately, we are talking about the issue here, the health worker out there in the Gambia is busy taking bribes for getting someone his birth certificate. this is a calamity!! |
me |
Edited by - BornAfrican on 25 Mar 2006 02:10:43 |
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