Abia State Government has promised to commence a free medical outreach aimed at providing treatment for 5,000 persons and conducting 200 surgeries in the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, made this known on Monday during a press briefing on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Umuahia.

Ms Okoronkwo said that the government would be working in collaboration with the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas to offer medicare to indigent and vulnerable individuals in Abia.

She said that 81 physicians were expected to offer medicare during the programme slated to hold from April 4 to 14.

“We are going to host some of the top surgeons that you have in the United States and they are coming to conduct some rare surgeries that you don’t get to do here in Abia

”Some of the surgeries cost so much. For example, colonoscopy that would be available to some people. If you have to do colonoscopy in Nigeria you have to go to Abuja. Now that it is going to be available here, it is something that everyone should take advantage of,” she said.

She said that free testing would commence on Saturday, aimed at preparing the patients and their cases for the programme.

Ms Okoronkwo said that the centres for the testing would be the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, and the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, because they have the capacity for specialised testing.

“For people above 40 years, I would advise you to visit the centre if you have need for such care that qualifies you to have access to get the colonoscopy treatment when the surgeons arrive. The Prostate Specific-Antigen testing will also be available in all the centres. I urge the people of Abia to present some challenging surgeries and take advantage of the free medical outreach programme,” she added.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu, said that the government had commenced active preparations to ensure that the medical outreach would be a success.

He said that 65 centres had been identified for the registration of interested persons and encouraged residents to register particularly those with serious needs for surgeries and health issues.

He also urged residents to register early, adding that doing so would enable the physicians to offer medical treatment and perform surgery for many persons during the programme.

“The whole objective is to ensure that the average person in Abia is provided free and easy access to quality healthcare services and facilities,” Mr Kanu added.

In a related development, the Senior Special Assistant to the Abia Governor on Special Duties, Dr Betty Obasi, said that the government would organise a week-long event to commemorate the 2024 World Glaucoma Day.

Ms Obasi said that the event would take place from March 10 to 16, adding that the week-long event would be used to create massive awareness on the dangers of glaucoma across the state.

According to her, glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness in the world and the disease has no known cure.

She said that the only way one could know that one had glaucoma is by visiting an eye clinic for screening,

Ms Obasi added that in most cases people visit the eye clinic when they start presenting visible signs and symptoms of the disease and at this point the person could be described as being clinically blind.

She said that several misconceptions were associated with glaucoma and these contributed to the prevalence of the disease in society.

Ms Obasi said that there would be massive enlightenment campaigns in rural communities on the dangers of glaucoma, importance of early detection and religiously taking the glaucoma medication when treating the disease.

She said that the government had secured seven eye screening centres across the three senatorial zones for Abia residents, adding that plans were underway to get more centres before the celebration week.

“We will be on radio and television, distributing leaflets in Igbo and English for everybody to understand. The schools will not be left out as we would have people going to the schools because the earlier you catch them it means you are already solving the problem,” she added.

“We will be engaging with the local government areas, the transition committee chairmen, traditional rulers and community leaders,” Ms Obasi said.

(NAN)