ANPA team begins medical mission in Abia despite flight delays by New York earthquake
By Steve Oko
Finally, the team of medical experts by the Association of Nigeria Physicians in the Americas, ANPA, has arrived Abia State for a 10-day medical mission.
The team led by ANPA President, Dr Chinyere Anyogu, has already commenced surgeries at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC Umuahia, to be able to meet up with the high number of patients booked for their attention during the mission.
Addressing newsmen in Umuahia on Saturday, ANPA President, Dr Anyogu, noted that despite a temporary setback on the flight schedule of some of the team members, the mission would continue as scheduled.
She said the 3.8 magnitude earthquake that struck New York City Friday night, obstructed the movement of some of the members of the team.
According to her, although some of the team members had arrived the state, others were still being expected following the delay in their flight schedule after the earthquake.
She, however, said that despite the flight challenges, the medical mission would still go on, declaring that the team members were in high spirit to ensure a successful outing.
The ANPA President noted that due to the high number of surgery cases booked for the team, they decided to commence surgeries on Friday instead of waiting till Monday when it was originally scheduled for.
This, she explained was to enable the team handle all the cases before the end of the mission on April 14.
She expressed satisfaction with the level of preparations on ground by the Abia State Government and other partners including the Academic Core Values Orientation Initiative (ACVOI), and Rotary International.
On the choice of Abia State for this year’s ANPA medical mission, the ANPA helmsman said it was taken to complement the efforts of Gov. Alex Otti towards improving the Abia health sector.
” We saw a lot of the visionary actions of Gov. Alex Otti, and that’s why we chose Abia.
” We partner with local stakeholders to perform service delivery, capacity building and advocacy towards making Abians and Nigerians enjoy quality health care”.
Adding his voice, the Chairman, Local Organising Committee and the Chief Medical Director, CMD, Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Umuahia Professor Azubuike Onyebuchi, said that every necessary arrangement needed for the success of the mission, had been put in place.
He affirmed that surgeries had already commenced ahead of the earlier scheduled date to enable them deal with the high volume of booked cases.
” We have selected 20 general surgery and gynacology cases from each of the 17 LGAs totalling 340, besides 500 eye surgery cases. We have put in place everything needed to succeed, we are good to go”, Professor Onyemachi declared.
Speaking also, the National President of Abia State National Association of North America comprising USA and Canada, High Chief Enyinnaya Alamba, also expressed satisfaction with the quality of facilities at the venues where the medical mission would be held.
He said the association decided to cue into the mission as part of its contribution to support the efforts of the State Government towards quality health care delivery.
” Our motivation is to support this Government that has shown interest to help the suffering poor people get quality health care, and we need to complement this good move”.
One of the Lead Surgeons, Dr Iyore James, said she was ready to give her best to deliver quality health care services to Nigerians.
She said that despite the number of patients booked for surgery cases, the team would try to discharge all of them before leaving for the US.
Speaking also, ACVOI President and former State Director of the National Orientation Agency, Dr Ngozi Okechukwu, said her organization decided to partner with the mission as part of its high premium on quality health delivery.
The team also held a training session for young doctors and medical students at the Michael Okpara Auditorium Umuahia, for knowledge transfer.
Some of the participants including Kennedy Alegu, and Moses Tonfawei, student doctors at Gregory University Uturu, expressed delight over the training, saying it afforded them the opportunity to be mentored by experienced professionals in the field of medicine.
” Medicine is all about mentorship. Being tutored by the people with experience enables you to avoid mistakes. I’m happy to be part of this”, Tonfawei enthused.
The ANPA medical outreach which commenced on April 4, is holding simultaneously at the Federal Medical Centre FMC Umuahia; Abia Diagnostic Centre Umuahia; and Amachara Specialist Hospital.
Over 7000 patients according to the LOC, have been booked both for surgery and medications.
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