Niger State Governor, Alh. Abubakar Sani Bello has assured the people of the state of qualitative, functional and accessible medical services in the state.
He gave the assurance yesterday when he flagged off the 500 Free Eye Surgical Operation jointly organised by the State government and a Saudi Arabia based non-governmental oranisation at IBB Specialized Hospital, Minna.
The governor also assured rural dwellers of his administration’s commitment to ensuring that adequate healthcare facilities are provided to rural areas where more indigent patients with various kinds of ailments abound.
Flagging off the free eye treatment, Gov. Sani Bello said the programme would concentrate on removing of cataract, rectifying of eye lenses as well as giving of glasses where necessary in order to reduce blindness in the state.
According to the governor, “We discovered that some people in rural areas have been carrying different diseases such Cataract, Hernia and Goiter for thirty to forty years and cannot afford treatment.
“We will sustain this type of projects and more of this programme will come up, it is going to be a continuous process.
“Hopefully by next week we will have another intervention. Another set of surgeons will carry out free operation for those suffering from Hernia, Goiter and other diseases.
Conducting the Governor round the male and female wards of the operated patients the Niger State Eye Coordinator, Dr. Jibril Isah explained that the free eye cataract surgery was for 500 people with 20 persons from each local government area of the state.
Isah said 108 persons have since been operated by 12 experts involved in the five-day exercise. According to him 4 surgeons each from Saudi Arabia, National Eye Center Kaduna and 4 from the state are attending to the patient.
He further said that aside from the surgery the Saudi Arabia partner provided 1,000 eye glasses and eye drops to aid the exercise.
The Commissioner for Health and Hospital Services Dr. Mustapha Jibrin said state government is expending N11 million on the exercise.
Malam Abdullahi Abubakar who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries expressed gratitude to Governor Sani Bello for the kind gesture shown to them and prayed for a successful administration.
Jibrin Baba Ndace
Chief Press Secretary
