Varsity Hospital Says It Spent 150m Naira On Free Healthcare For IDPs

The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) has spent nearly 150 million Naira to provide free healthcare services to victims of violence in the northeast, an official of the hospital said on Wednesday.

The Medical Director of the UMTH Professor Abdulrahman Tahir during the commissioning of the upgraded complex buildings in the hospital, told reporters that the amount was spent on provision of optimal health services to victims of the over seven years Boko Haram insurgency.

Professor Tahir further explained that the hospital had accorded priority attention to the health of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by violence.

Patients Of Boko Haram Attack

Over two million persons were displaced in the region as a result of the activities of members of the terrorist group and over 75,000 children, pregnant and nursing mothers are at risk of death due to severe malnutrition in the region.

Giving record of what the university hospital had done so far, he said: “Our Resident doctors have also remained resilient and committed to giving their best for the IDPs. Even while the national Association embarked on strike, they refused to join them in Borno”.

According to him, many staff of the hospital have lost their lives in the last four years while many doctors have relocated to other areas in fear of being killed.

“Almost all the patients of Boko Haram attacks were brought to this hospital and that had led to the overstretching of our facilities,” he stated.

The Medical Director of the UMTH, however, noted that interventions had come from NEMA.

“In line with this effort, we wrote to NEMA and they had supported us with 30 million Naira to continue with our support. Borno government also gave us 10 million Naira,” Tahir said, listing supports that the hospital has received.