Foundations offer free surgeries to over 300 persons

The Sani Bello Foundation and Graceland Healthcare Foundation are offering free medical surgeries to over 300 less privileged persons in Niger.

Dr Zakari Ikani, Director General of the Sani Bello Foundation made this known in Kontagora on Monday during a four-day free surgery programme for the indigents in the state.

“This free surgery is carried out twice a year and it focuses on ailments whose treatment is not affordable for an average individual.

“These ailments include fibroid, goiter, hernia, lumps, hydrocoele and eye-related surgeries,” he said.

Ikani said that the foundation which was on its seventh edition of the exercise, had sustained its partnership with Graceland Healthcare Development Foundation in Kaduna.

He said that since the commencement of the free surgeries in 2016, a total of 7,963 persons have benefited from the free healthcare services.

The director general said that the beneficiaries got free medical services ranging from treatment and issuance of medicated eyeglasses as well as general surgeries.

Also, Dr Toth Dogo, Chairman Graceland Healthcare Development Foundation, said that over 100 cataract extraction surgeries have been carried out since the commencement of the exercise.

Dogo said that aside the surgeries, over 1,000 eyeglasses would be distributed for free during the exercise.

He said that his foundation was offering manpower support during the exercise while Sani Bello Foundation foots the bills for surgeries and treatment.

“What we are lending is our expertise, we brought our hospital consumables with us but we found out that most of them have been taken care of by Sani Bello Foundation,” he said.

The Chairman who commended the Sani Bello Foundation for the gesture said that without such an intervention, many of the persons who received treatment could have died from the ailments.

“In my clinic, some of the operations which are done for free during this exercise costs as high as N400, 000, while others cost between N250, 000 and N50,000.

“This is big money even for a civil servant in Nigeria. What is obtainable is that most of them can die with the problems if they cannot afford to pay the bills,” he said.

According to Dogo, the eighth edition of the exercise will come up in November.

Safiya Sani, a beneficiary, who was screened with goiter and waiting on queue for surgery, commended foundation and it’s supporting partners for the intervention.

Safiya said she had been battling with the goiter for six years but lack funds to seek hospital treatment until a friend whose mother got free surgery through the foundation introduced her to it.

Another beneficiary, Danlami Mohammed, who was recovering from his surgery, expressed gratitude to the organisation for the gesture.

Mohammed said that he had been living with the goiter for 10 years before he finally got the free surgery.