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Tag: Free surgeries

  • Medical professionals from US lift Delta communities with free surgeries

    Medical professionals from US lift Delta communities with free surgeries

    A team of over 40 medical professionals from the United States has launched a week-long free medical outreach across five communities in Delta State.

    The initiative, which began on June 7 in Osubi, Okpe Local Government Area, is organised by the NIFER Touch Life Foundation in collaboration with the Delta State Government, Sunshine Care Initiative (USA), and YOU MATTER Charity Foundation.

    Led by renowned U.S.-based Consultant Neurosurgeon, Dr. Sandea Harris-Greene, the outreach targeted underserved and indigent patients suffering from various conditions particularly those requiring surgeries such as goitre, fibroid, hernia, lipoma, and knee replacement.

    The team rendered services in Osubi on June 9, Orerokpe on June 10, Eku and Kokori on June 11 and 12, with the final stop scheduled for Obiaruku at the weekend.

    At the opening ceremony in Osubi, the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, represented by Hon. Perkins Umukoro, praised the outreach as a vital support to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s MORE Agenda, especially in healthcare delivery.

    Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, represented by Dr. Yinkore Paul of the State Primary Health Development Agency, lauded the programme as a groundbreaking collaboration. 

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    He described the visiting team as “intimidating, daring, and a beauty to behold,” expressing hope that their work would further the state’s progress toward Universal Health Coverage under the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Chairman of Okpe Local Government Area, Chief Isaiah Esiovwa, called the outreach a major boost to his administration’s efforts in strengthening primary healthcare and expressed interest in hosting the team again for future missions.

    Hon. Mine Jennifer Aragbata-Etuk, Convener and Founder of the NIFER Touch Life Foundation and Special Assistant to the Governor on Diaspora Affairs, thanked the state government and partners for their support. 

    She emphasised that the outreach reflected the foundation’s deep commitment to the well-being and dignity of Deltans.

    “This programme is not just about treating illnesses, it’s about restoring dignity, offering hope, and showing our people that their lives matter,” she said.

    The outreach highlighted the power of partnerships between local stakeholders and international organisations in delivering life-changing healthcare to rural and underserved population.

  • Sanwo-Olu campaign offers free surgeries

    The Professionals for Humanity (PROFOH), a group of doctors, nurses, microbiologists and other volunteers from Houston, Texas, United States, has partnered the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on free medical care to indigent Lagos.

    The medical mission which provides free surgeries, is done under BOSKOH – Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat (his running mate) – platform

    At the flag-off ceremony, at the Shomolu General Hospital where experts will spend a week before moving to another, Sanwo-Olu said it was not a political mission as the welfare of Lagosians had nothing to do with politics.

    “We are not asking for their PVCs before they can be attended to; anybody who needs help will be attended to. This is all about service to humanity,” he said.

    Sanwo-Olu’s wife Dr. Ibijoke, a former chief medical director of Shomolu Primary Health Centre, enjoined those who need surgery to present their cases, assuring that they would be attended to.

    Hamzat lauded the mission, saying it would restore hope and life to the sick. “A woman came to me in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State and asked me to thank the BOSKOH medical team for taking care of her 20 years’ ailment,” he said.

    Gbimieotor Daniel Kama, who is the head of PFOFOH, affirmed that the team had been carrying out free medical treatment over the years, adding it had performed thousands of surgeries in and outside the country over the years.

    “The surgical operations we have embarked on include hernia, tumours, different kinds of surgeries, and fibroids, among others. We’ve been taking in as many people as possible until the medical team is tired and can not take in any people any longer. Sometimes we do up to 20 types of surgeries in a day.

    “You never know until you get inside the theatr; there may be a lot of complicationes you’ll find there. The surgeries we can’t handle are heart and liver related; we do more of general surgeries including glaucoma, thyroid, hernia, fibroids, tumour, gad bladder,” he said.

    Cliff Jarrell Director, the head of PROFOH in Nigeria, observed that there is a long list of people with different kinds of surgical operations such as cancers, malignant and non-malignant tumors, orthopedic cases and classes of plastic surgeries.

    The team has solved many medical challenges.

    Coordinator of the mission, Nike Osa, a microbiologist, stressed that the group wanted to see how it could reduce the number of surgeries available; hence the group is doing its bit to improve the healthcare system.

    “The hospitals where the surgeries take place are:  Hernias, fibroids glaucomas and plastic surgeries are being handled at the Onikan General Hospital; the Lagos General Hospital is mostly for paediatric cases, while Gynaecology and Obstetrics cases are done at Shomolu General Hospital.”

     

    Our plastic surgeon, when available, is about the third best on earth and so we have the capacity to handle these cases,” she said.

    According to Osa, the major aim of the team is to ensure that people who are not able to afford this expense will get these services for free and it is an immediate intervention for them. In a community like this and with the volume of emergencies you find, if they can’t access healthcare and instead of leaving them in a state where they can’t help themselves, we have brought this to them totally free. We have doctors from the UK, Australia, Spain and USA. We have all the capacity because we have brought in the best. We also welcome volunteers to join the team to bring wellness to Lagosians,” she said, while promising that the free medical surgeries will be replicated in all the local government areas in the state

  • Free surgeries for 1000 women

    A non-governmental Organisation (NGO), Benjamin Olowojebutu Foundation (BOF), has concluded plans to perform 1,000 free surgeries on indigent women this year.

    Its founder and Executive Director, Dr. Benjamin Olowojebutu, said 1,000 needy women suffering from various diseases such as fibroids, lipoma, breast lumps and hernia will benefit from the group’s nationwide medical outreaches this year.

    The foundation, a dream driven by compassion to help indigent people suffering from various diseases, said its long-term goal is to change the healthcare space in the country with love and compassion. “Our constant pursuit of excellence, undying love and compassion for indigent women gave birth to the BOF. Our project for 2019 is called ‘Journey to 1,000 free surgeries.’ Our aim is to be able to help 1,000 indigent patients, suffering from fibroid, lipoma, breast lumps and hernia,” he said.

    Last year, BOF was in Benue and Akwa Ibom states where it performed surgeries free of charge for hundreds of people, aside numerous lives touched in Lagos. Explaining why he focuses on women’s health, the maternal medicine specialist said: “Women are the greatest gifts to this world. When you touch women, you touch a nation.” The BOF founder described fibroids as non-cancerous abnormal growths that develop in or around the womb. While stating that fibroids are common among black  Africans, the surgeon emphasised that no drug can shrink fibroids in a woman.

    He advised women to visit a doctor and get examined when they suspect they may be having fibroids, instead of resorting to herbal concoctions. “There are lots of fallacies and superstitious beliefs around fibroids that you can take medicines to shrink or pass it out from the anus; that is what is killing many women today. Some women have been taking herbal drugs for years and instead of shrinking the fibroid, it is getting bigger and bigger. We want to create awareness to let (indigent) people know that there is help for them,” he said.

    If the NGO meets its 2019 target of 1,000 free surgeries, it will be an upgrade on the feat it achieved last year where 623 lives were touched across the six geo-political zones of the country. Having started the year with eight successful fibroid surgeries in Ikorodu in January, the foundation has moved its medical outreach to Cross River State, after which it will berth in Imo, Abia, Edo, Ondo and Rivers states. By July this year, BOF said it will embark on its first international medical outreach in Gambia and South Sudan.

    The foundation also unveiled Monalisa Chinda Coker, a top Nollywood actress, as its ambassador last weekend. The popular actress expressed her readiness to support initiatives that seek to restore smiles on the faces of women, who are too poor to afford surgeries when in need.

    “I am delighted to be a part of this wonderful initiative. If you don’t have the love of God, you can’t achieve whatever you want to achieve. I am just starting because I want everyone to support this so as to enlarge and expand the initiative to other areas and touch more lives. I will always make myself available. I will always be there; everywhere you want me to be,” she said.

  • Niger spends N16m for free surgeries

    Niger State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibril, has disclosed that N16 million was expended for free surgeries to over 3,000 people in the state in 2016.

    He disclosed this while addressing newsmen during a free eye surgery camp for 400 people at the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) Specialist Hospital, Minna.

    According to him, the amount was spent for the surgeries of various ailments ranging from hernia, cataract, goiter, appendix, amongst others.

    Jibril said that the government has placed health as one of its priority focus areas adding that in the 2017, over N900 million have been budgeted to revitalize the primary health care centers across the state.

    He said the free eye surgery camp was done in collaboration with a Saudi Arabia-based foundation, Al-Basar International foundation, adding that apart from the 400 people who were operated for various eye ailment, 500 reading glasses were also given out for free.

    According to the commissioner, the state government will continue these interventions until the people are no longer burdened by these ailments.

  • Free surgeries for tumour patients in Ekiti

    Succour has come the way of 10 patients in Ekiti State who are suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate and benign jaw tumour as they have received free surgeries in a mission organised by Health, Work and Shelter Foundation (HEWS) in conjunction with Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

    The latest round of surgeries was the third that would be carried out at EKSUTH and it was sponsored by the oil and gas giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    The beneficiaries, who were operated upon were full of gratitude to the partners for medical intervention which has reconstructed their anatomical composition and restored beauty to their lives.

    A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides or in the middle.

    A cleft palate is when the roof of the mouth contains an opening into the nose.

    These disorders can result in speech problems, feeding problems and frequent ear infections.

    Benign tumour, on the other hand, is a mass of cells that lacks the ability to invade the neighbouring tissues.

    Although most benign tumours are not life-threatening, many types of benign tumours have the potential to become cancerous through a process known as tumour progression.

    Benign tumours are typically surrounded by an outer surface made up of fibrous sheath of connective tissues. Common examples of benign tumours include moles, jaw and uterine fibroids.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony of the health mission, the General Manager, External Relations of SPDC, Mr. Igo Weli, said the mission was to restore a smiling face to the beneficiaries, for the third time in Ekiti State.

    Weli added that the gesture by his company was “to continue to invest in social projects and programmes to improve the quality of lives of Nigerians and to improve health care services in many communities in Nigeria.”

    The founder and President of HEWS Foundation, Mr. Remi Adeseun, in his address, urged people to refrain from self-medication, which he said was “very dangerous to their health.”

    Adeseun advised pregnant women not to use medicine that were not recommended to them during pregnancy.

    He called on well-meaning Nigerians to assist the less-privileged persons by donations and financial assistance to support the people in tackling their health challenges such cleft lip/palate/ benign jaw tumours.

    He said: “Many of us in this country who God has blessed and who have the resources, should help the less-privileged who are suffering needlessly.”

    In his speech, the Ekiti State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Olurotimi Ojo, who was represented by Dr. Adetoye Olusanya, said the state government was passionate about the health issues of the people and is putting up programmes to help the indigent people.

    Dr. Ojo called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to emulate the gesture of SPDC and HEWS Foundation by giving a helping hand to the less-privileged in the society.

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of EKSUTH, Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, said the foundation and the partners were supporting the vision of Ekiti State Government to make health care affordable to the people.

    Ogundipe added that the team comprised mainly of doctors from EKSUTH, for the third time, is giving support to indigent patients.

    Dr. Obimakinde Obitade Sunday, who is the team leader, noted that ignorance and lack of education was responsible for this kind of disease that is treatable with little fund.

    Obimakinde said they are reaching out to the local governments for the people to know that the treatment is available.

    He said: “Even if you don’t have money, we have an organisation that we can easily call on to bail us out.”

    A beneficiary, Tope Ajidahun, said he had resigned to fate that he would live with the condition of cleft palate for the rest of his life until the opportunity of free surgery came.

     

  • Free surgeries for indigent children

    Free surgeries for indigent children

    After lying helplessly at the Paediatric Ward of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) for months without any hope of getting money for their treatment, nine indigent children’s hope of having corrective surgeries has finally been realised. This is courtesy of Yeloto African Children Foundation (YACF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

    Its founder, Dr Oluyemi Olawaiye said the children’s surgical fees have been paid by his organisation.

    “We have six-day- old Baby Salami who is suffering from colostomy; 10-day-old Baby Ali who has exploratory laparatomy while one-month-old Fikayomi Oyeniyi has pharyngeal atresia.

    “Others are Ebadan Testimony who has appendicatomy, Praise Sunday who suffers from urethosplasty; Jeremiah Mafe suffers from urethroplasty, 14-week-old Deborah Okpaka has colostomy and Mobolaji Mukaram has urethroplasty.” he said.

    He said YACF was established in 2011 after noticing indigent children eating from dustbins in Makoko, a Lagos suburb, to help poor children in dire need, especially those requiring medical care in hospitals.

    Olawaiye described children as buds in a garden, which should be carefully and lovingly nurtured because they are the future.

    He said Children’s Day celebration is a reminder that people must imbibe important values, adding that it is a call for the adults to protect little ones from harms.

    Olawaiye decried child labour, stressing that children should not be made to work.

    “Many of them are selling products on most of our major roads today for little to no pay. This act is illegal. Children of school age should be in school,” he said.

    Quoting UNICEF 2013 statistics, 10.5 million children are out of school.

    “UNICEF has observed that about 40 per cent of Nigerian children between six and 11 years do not attend any primary school. The North recorded the lowest school attendance rate in the country, particularly for girls,” he said, adding “we as a country must endeavour to do better,” he said.

    He charged the adults to learn humility, innocence, love; trust; purity of the heart as well as ability to trust from children.

    Secretary of the NGO and wife to the founder, Dr Regine Brony-Olawaiye lamented the state of facilities in the hospital.

    She said: “If you put the facilities side by side with what we have in the United States, you will understand what I am saying. They are a million miles apart in terms of quality.”

    Dr Brony-Olawaiye, who is a Paediatric Psychiatrist, said the government should make quality health care one of its priorities.

    She said children are innocent and helpless, as such should be adequately catered for.

    “They did not ask to be born. So, the adults should provide for them,” she said.