Anthony Eyibio with a medical condition, Congenital Talipes Equinovarus, otherwise known as club foot, will get corrective treatment, facilitated by the Red Cross Society of Nigeria.
Days after Channels Television reported Anthony’s case, and the World Health Organization confirmed that it was club foot; his condition drew attention that has led to the announcement by the Red Cross that it is determined to correct the infant’s condition free of charge.
Anthony will not only be the beneficiary but patients with same condition across Nigeria, as the Red Cross Society says, it is looking at setting up a club foot care project across Nigeria to create awareness on the medical condition and treat patients accordingly.
This was disclosed at the Orthopaedic Department of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UTCH) by a team of senior health practitioners while receiving Anthony brought in by the State government for commencement of the treatment.
Few days into the New Year, Channels Television brought to the fore, the case of one Anthony Eyibio suspected with Poliomyelitis but was later dismissed by the World Health Organization as rather club foot following clinical examinations conducted on the child.
The situation did not just die off but raised concerns on how to better the lots of thousands of children with the same medical condition especially in hard to reach communities across Nigeria but are not aware it could be corrected.
The Red Cross Of Nigeria indicated interest in the situation and decided that Anthony be brought to the University Of Calabar for commencement of the first corrective phase.
Monitoring The Healing Progress
The Cross River State Government led by its Health Commissioner alongside, Channels Televisions’ crew, began a trip to the remote and hard-to-reach community of Ekpene Eki, with little or no road access but several hours on bike to bring Anthony and his mother to Calabar.
The Health Commissioner, Dr. Inyang Asibong, said: “We have actually come here to get this child out there for medical treatment. We had to come ourselves because sometimes, even when people have a problem because of their orientation, it is difficult to pull out. If you tell her, ‘madam come to that health facility’, she may not come, you give her the money and she finds out she has other list of priorities.
“We want to improve the quality of life of this little child”.
Back to Calabar and set for office work, Dr. Asibong hands over Anthony to a team of health experts at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, with promises of monitoring the healing progress of the child till the end.
Assurances were given to the State, Nigeria and the International Community of rendering quality services to the patient till his condition is corrected.
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the UCTH, Dr. Ngim Ogbu, who stood represented the CMD, UCTH, Dr. Thomas Agan, said the management of the hospital was actually fully aware of the pathology that is called, Club Foot.
“It has been with us for several decades and it is not anything new and as management of this hospital, we want to assure the public that, the treatment for this condition will be done here and at no cost to that. The whole world will see that such treatment is actually available and the patient will have a normal life thereafter”.
A Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and HOD of the Orthopedics, NRCS, CRS Branch, Professor Ngim Ngim, said: “As the process starts, you will be briefed from time to time the progress that the child makes, but rest assured that, the child will be given the best of treatments that can be obtained anywhere in the world”.
Throwing more light to the club foot project, the Health Adviser, Cross River State Chapter of, Nigeria Red Cross Society Dr. Ernest Ochang, said the society would source for funding and would work in collaboration with the Orthopaedic Department at the University of Calabar for the treatments.
“Using the beautiful case of Eyibio brought about by Channels Television that, a lot of other patients, who are suffering from club foot in very hard to reach areas, will derive benefit from this initiative and we must continue to thank Channels Television for bringing out that information. A little snark at the beginning of the diagnosis but at least, that little effort is beginning to yield fruit and Red Cross is ready to carry it to the next level.
“We are scaling it up across the whole country so each of our branches across the country will benefit from the Club Foot Care project. Tertiary institutions in those states where the branches are will also benefit from the Club Foot Project so down the line, “Channels TV Eyibio’s” case, we will now have other people benefiting from Club Foot care for little or nothing,” he said.
Club foot medically termed, Congenital Talipes Equinovarus is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both and appears to have been rotated internally at the ankle.
Without treatment, people with club feet appear to walk on their ankles or on the sides of their feet.
Research has proven that, with treatment, the vast majority of patients with club foot recover completely during early childhood.