Niger State Governor Promises Better Healthcare Services

Niger State Governor, Sani Bello, has assured the people of the state that his administration will ensure the provision of good, functional and accessible medical services.

He gave the assurance when he flagged off the project tagged ‘500 Free Eye Surgical Operation’ jointly organised by the state government and a Saudi Arabia based non-governmental organisation at the IBB Specialized Hospital, Minna.

The Governor 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, Bello said that the programme would concentrate on removal of cataract, rectifying of eye lenses as well as giving of glasses where necessary in order to reduce blindness in the state.

“We discovered that some people in rural areas have been carrying different diseases such as Cataract, Hernia and Goiter for 30 to 40 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,” he said.

Conducting the Governor round the male and female wards where those operated on were kept, 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 that 108 persons have since been operated on by 12 experts involved in the five-day exercise. According to him four surgeons each from Saudi Arabia, National Eye Center Kaduna and four from the state were attending to the patients.

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 that the state government was expending 11 million Naira on the exercise.

One of the beneficiaries, Abdullahi Abubakar, who spoke on behalf of others, expressed gratitude to Governor Sani Bello for the kind gesture shown to them and prayed for a successful administration.