FG rolls out free surgeries in FCT

Ajuma Edwina Ogiri
Abuja

Federal Government has rolled out free surgical operations for residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),  through the Federal Ministry of Health.
The free health package came through the recently-launched ‎Rapid Response Initiative (RRI) by the Federal Government.
Government uses RRI to assist Nigerians who need medical care such as surgery, but cannot afford the costs.
Some of the beneficiaries who spoke to newsmen at the National Hospital recently in Abuja,  lauded the government for the initiative and also thanked medical practitioners who performed the interventions.
One of the beneficiaries, Clementina Nwandigba, said she heard about the programme from a friend and decided to come, adding that she had a successful operation carried out on her for fibroid.
She said: “I am so happy for the fibroid surgery that was performed on me today, because I couldn’t afford this operation for a long time, and I am always in pain, but now that I have been operated on for free, I am so grateful for the initiative.”

Another patient, Asanatu Alfa, a resident of Orozo community ,who was operated for shoulder lipoma, said she was happy for the successful free surgery and lauded the government for the initiative.
A Maxillo Facial surgeon, Dr Charles Ononiwu, said he was glad that such a programme was given free to those who could not afford the cost, especially those at the grassroots.
He said everything needed to perform the surgery had been provided by the Federal Government.
According to him, he specialises on cliff lip and palate for patients who don’t have upper lips or those without roof over their mouths.
He said: “We have done five surgeries today and we still have three more to attend to today. We also have more on the list.
“We are performing surgery on those who are qualified for this procedure. The management has provided some of the things we needed, and we are here to do our job.”
Another surgeon, an obstetric gynaecology, Dr. Ibrahim Raiz, said his team were performing surgery mostly on women, ranging from fibroid surgery, lump, hydrocil, and common swellings ,screening for cervical cancer among others .
Raiz, said they had presently operated on three women whose wombs were not healthy as they are among the highly specialised surgeries.
He also noted that if not done properly, it could cause complications.
Head of Nurse in charge of the RRI theatre, Mrs Opara Ngozi, said the theatre had been coping with the support of the management, adding that the management provided a section of the hospital where the patients were admitted and nurses deployed to cater for them.

Also, Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Jeff Momoh, said that the programme was a continuous programme that started two months ago .
Momoh,explained that the programme, which was launched by the Minister of Health, Dr Isaac Adewole, was aimed at accommodating 10,000 indigenous people who can’t afford the medical help that they need.
According to him, the programme started all over the country, saying “We created lot of awareness programmes, and we also spoke to the community leaders to allow their people come out to access the programme and be treated.”
“More than 15 patients have been attended to so far (today) and we intend to treat more with minor and major surgeries cutting across minor surgeries to intermediate surgeries “
He further said they had spent over three million naira and that the Federal government had given them the permission to spend more.
According to him, it is part of the change agenda of President Muhammad Buhari to bring health care to the masses in terms of universal health coverage and special intervention to those for those who need medical care but can not afford it.