Skip to main content

NDDC Begins Free Health Care Programmes



The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has kicked off another round of its popular Free Health Care Medical Programme, which covers different communities in the Niger Delta region, as part of its commitment to enhance better healthcare delivery to the people. The medical programme for this year was flagged off simultaneously in Abia and Akwa Ibom states on Wednesday.
Speaking at the week-long free healthcare programme, which the NDDC organized in conjunction with Global Hands Medicare Foundation, at the Ekpene Obo Cottage Hospital in Esit Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, the Managing Director of NDDC, Sir Barr. Bassey Dan-Abia, said that the programme was meant to bring healthcare to the door-steps of rural dwellers and communities.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer, who was represented by Engr. Etim Inyang Jnr, the Akwa Ibom State representative on the Governing Board of the commission, said that no less than 900,000 people have benefited from the free medical services for various health issues since the programme started 14 years ago. He stated that the commission was determined to make a difference in the health sector through the engagement of relevant partners such as Global Hand Medicare Foundation, Goldspin Healthcare, Total Health-Minders Foundation and others.
He said: “It is our belief that after this programme, the people of Esit Eket will say farewell to all the endemic health problems that have long plagued them. It is expedient to mention here that the health partners are expected to hand over substantial quantities of drugs to the hospital management for the treatment of those who had some major operations.”
The NDDC Acting Director, Education, Health and Social Services, Dr. Solomon Ita, said that the goal of the commission was to provide medical services to the people of the Niger Delta region, as part of its mandate.  He noted that the commission had always placed a high premium on healthcare delivery, adding that it had extended health facilities and services to many communities across the region.
Dr. Katherine Ntekim, the Director of Global Health Foundation, said that the NDDC-sponsored free medical mission made it possible for her organisation to assemble medical experts in different areas of specialization to attend to the needs of people who may not otherwise have access to such highly qualified medical personnel. She said that 282 patients were tested for HIV/AIDS and 16 of them were found to be positive to the HIV virus.
She further stated that the health programme in Esit Eket LGA was very timely as it was the saving grace for Mrs Iniobong Fidelix, who was rushed in for an emergency caesarian section. “The woman had to be rushed from a general hospital where doctors’ strike had paralyzed healthcare delivery to this place where we saved her and her new-born baby,” she said.
The Chairman of Esit Eket Local government Area, Hon Ibanga Itang, commended the NDDC for bringing the free medical programme to his locality, noting that the council was always ready to collaborate with agencies and organizations of the Federal Government that provide needed services to the rural areas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEFECTIONS: Why Saraki, Dogara Others Must Heed Sen. Ibrahim's Call by Comrade Nwokoma Ndubuisi M.

The gale of defections in the National Assembly last week was followed by an advice from no one else than Sen. Abu Ibrahim that the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and others in the fold of the All Progressives Congress APC that are still masquerading in the party should resign their membership of the party. This call which also implies that they resign their positions as leaders of the various arms of the National Assembly is yet to be complied with by those concerned as at the time of writing this piece Whatever their reasons for still staying put in the party may be, the fact of the matter is that their continued stay in the party has become a sore which must be extricated from the body.  As I watched through the proceedings of the defections on national television, I wept for the country for producing such leaders that lack morality despite all the party has given them politically which they ordin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rivers Governmnet, PDP Disagree Over $280 million Looan

The Rivers State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are currently at loggerheads over the request by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, for a $280m loan for water and sanitation projects. While the state PDP said that the latest request for loan by the state government was unnecessary due to the resources accruing to the state through the federal allocation and internally generated revenue, the government said it was not true that the funds were to be used for 2015 elections. The state House of Assembly had on Monday endorsed Amaechi’s request for loan for water supply and sanitation projects. But the state PDP, in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to its Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the request for loan was aimed at punishing the governor’s successor in 2015. The party called on members of the House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank and the World Bank not to honour the loan re...
Post a Comment
Read more

2019: Northern youths kick as Northwest APC lawmakers endorse Buhari

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Forum on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve any endorsement for the 2019 presidency. Reacting to a purported endorsement by some serving All Progressives Congress’s lawmakers from the Northwest in Kaduna, the AYF’s National President, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said Buhari was not fit to return as president in 2019. The AYF argued that with the killing spree all over the country, especially in the North, Buhari should serve his mandatory four years term and quit the stage for another Northerner. Gujungu noted that one sour point about President Buhari’s 2019 ambition was his claim that the killings across the country were being carried out by “desperate politicians”, yet he had not arrested even a single suspect. The AYF president, therefore, said Nigerians should blame the president for the attacks on innocent citizens. The AYF boss who spoke to our correspondent on phone on Monday, said the President’s cl...
Post a Comment
Read more