No fewer than 826 persons have benefitted from a free medical outreach provided by a team of Indian doctors on a medical mission to Anambra.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also reports that the group treated indigent and elderly patients, and donated drugs and medical equipment estimated at about 32,000 dollars.
The 10-day medical mission which was held at the Chukwuemeka Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Awka, was sponsored by Rotary International, Awka District.
The medical equipment was also handed over to the hospital by the doctors as part of the mission’s contribution to healthcare in Anambra.
Dr Jorson Fernandez, leader of the 2-man medical team, while speaking to newsmen on Saturday said no fewer than 600 persons, including doctors and nurses, were trained in different areas of medical practice.
According to Fernandez, they were trained in ophthalmic surgery, orthopaedic surgery, gynaecology and neonatal resuscitation.
He said some of the services rendered included neural transplant surgery which was not done in the past, but “we have successfully transferred the skills’’.
“They can now handle the patients with those cases, we are satisfied with their proficiency to use the equipment, these are some of the things we have done and we are happy with the success.
“We treated about 722 patients and operated on 104 of them on gynaecology, ENT, Orthopaedic, neurology, dentistry and general surgery.
“About 600 persons were trained on basic life support and neural resuscitation and we have certified them.
“The equipment we are handing over all together amount to about 32,000 dollar,” he said.
He regretted that time constraint could not allow them attend to more patients in need of their services.
Dr Basil Nwankwo, the Chief Medical Director of COOUTH, commended the team and their sponsors for finding the facility worthy for the mission.
Collecting the donated items, Nwankwo said there was need for domestication of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to increase the access of Nigerians to medical care.
He promised that the hospital would leverage on the partnership and skills learned to render more quality services, adding that the equipment would be used judiciously.
“Essentially we must thank the Rotary International who are in the middle of all this and we are happy that they used our teaching hospital as the focal centre, we are grateful to them.
“We have some of our surgeons who partnered with them, there are some areas our surgeons and nurses have learnt new things, we are going to make judicious use of the donated new equipment.
“The bottom-line for accessing affordable and free medical services lies on health insurance and to that extent I want to thank the Anambra government for setting up the State Health Insurance Scheme.
“The cost of medical services is essentially very high for the ordinary citizens but with the domestication of the NHIS in the state people can access healthcare,” he said.
The items donated included operating microscope, surgical kits, Endo Motor, Micro Motor, Adex Locator, Ultrasound Scaler and Suction Units.