Posted on: Tue 09-04-2024

No fewer than 4 Nigerian medical practitioners playing their trade in the United States of America have teamed up with 100 of their local counterparts to offer healthcare services to indigent patients in Abia State.

The medical mission which commenced on April 4, is going on in the selected health facilities in Umuahia, including the Federal Medical Centre( MQ), and the two glad-owned Specialist Hospitals in Umuahia and Amachara.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the Abia State Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, said that the mission which would last for a week, would involve hundreds of surgeries and other medical services.

She said that in the course of the programme, 70 medical doctors would attend to the needs of 5000 patients out of which 500 would undergo cataract surgeries while over 300 patients were booked for hernia operations. Those with goitre and fibroid would also receive free surgeries,

“We've been ‘planning and waiting for this,” the Commissioners said adding that the week-long, medical mission “is an extension

of project, we started last year ' which ANDA has now keyed into,

She said that aside from giving their services free of charge, the association has also brought in medical supplies and consumables as well as skill transfer.

President of ANPA, Dr Chinyere Anyaogu said that Abia was selected as a beneficiary of ANPA week, because the vision of Governor Alex Otti “aligns with our own,

“We're excited to be here," she announced, adding that the patients would be glad to have benefitted from the medical outreach.

Anyaogu stated that ANPA was looking at the possibility of long-term intervention in Nigeria's healthcare system by training 1

million healthcare providers from the front-line responders.

She said that the japa syndrome which has been draining manpower in Nigeria's health sector could be minimized with the right policies and incentives.

“If you train people and want them ‘not to japa, you have to encourage them to develop their profession,” she said.

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