50 patients in line for free outreach surgeries

Some 50 specialists will carry out thryoid, fibroid and hernia surgeries on patients at Garki Hospital alongside eye surgeries at Rachel Eye Centre.
Both hospitals were selected to host the surgeries in moves by WACS to “allow access to surgeries for everybody in West Africa,” said Prof Herve Yangi-Angate, president of the college which has some 200 fellows in Abuja alone.
“In front of pathology, in front of illness, we are all equal,” he said. “There’s no way some people can get access and some don’t.”
“We were selected for this historic moment to reach out to society,” said Dr Ibrahim Wada, head of the group which runs Garki Hospital.
The patients lined up for surgery were recruited from outpatient units of public hospitals, which have been unable to do major surgeries since November when the latest staff strike started.
The outreach is also to enable patients get specialist care that would otherwise be beyond their reach and allow the college’s fellows provide their expertise at levels where they are desperately needed.
“We have a lot of underreached and underserved people in West Africa,” said Dr Zara Mairami, chairperson of Nigerian Medical Association’s Abuja chapter.
Dr. Bisallah Ekele, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, who coordinates the outreach between both hospitals, said the outreach would become as regular as at least twice a year in future.