The Relume Charitable Foundation has offered free surgical and medical outreach to 1,156 patients in Gujba and Fune local government areas of Yobe.
Speaking at the two-day medical outreach in Gujba on Wednesday, President of the Foundation, Prof. Sherri Adeosun, said the outreach was sponsored by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Joint Ventures.
According to her, nine types of surgeries were offered to 158 patients in the areas.
She listed the surgeries to include herniorrhaphy, cataract, ganglion excision, caesarean section, hydrocelectomy, appendectomy, anterior colporrhaphy, posterior colpoperineorraphy and excisional biopsy.
Adeosun said the organisation had also provided full treatment and medication to 998 patients for various ailments.
The president said community health extension workers had earlier visited 2,240 households to gather data for the outreach aimed at providing emergency response to the needs of internally displaced persons and their hosts.
“ Ngelshengele in Fune local government is the location benefitting from the state of the art health care facility that is under construction.
“ The objective of the health program in Fune and Gujba is to Improve IDPs and host communities’ well-being through sustainable access to safe health care delivery.
“The health programme in Fune and Gujba incorporates house-to-house health data information capture and onsite medication, medical outreach with handling of minor surgeries, cataract surgeries and construction of primary health care facility.
“ Stakeholder’s capacity building is also an integral part of this programme,” she said.
Adeosun commended local Community Based Organizations (CBO) and Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Yobe State Chapter, for their various supports in successful implementation of the programme.
Isa Baba, a beneficiary of herniorrhaphy in Gujba, thanked the foundation for providing free surgery to him.
“ I have been suffering from this sickness for 15 years because I could not afford the cost of the surgery.
“ As years past by, the hernia kept on increasing in size and i became so sick that I couldn’t effectively carry out my duties.
“ Now, I feel so strong and healthy after the surgery. I give thanks to God and the foundation for saving my life,” he said.
Another beneficiary of cataract surgery in Fune, Amina Adamu, who struggle with eye defect for nine years, also thanked the foundation for coming to her aid.
