Kogi State Starts Free Medical Care For Flood Victims

Kogi State government has assured the  over 50, 000 persons who were affected by 2018 flood disaster of its commitment to their health needs as arrangements have been concluded for free medical outreach that will last six weeks.

Dr Saka Audu, Kogi State Commissioner for Health, stated this at the inauguration of the free medical outreach in Lokoja at the weekend.

The commissioner said the outreach was launched  by the Royal Heritage Health Foundation (RHHF), a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funded organization, in collaboration with the Kogi State Ministry of Health.

Audu said the medical outreach would last for six weeks basically for the five flood affected LGAs, adding that about 50,000 persons were expected to benefit from it.

According to him, the RHHF’s service was strictly targeted at women and girls, while the state government was supporting the interventions directed at other categories of persons, children, adult males and the elderly.

Audu added that the state government would be supporting the current outreach with drugs, general medical services and other consumables to ensure that every flood victim in the affected communities benefit maximally, irrespective of age and sex.

He noted that the outreach had already commenced in Ibaji LGA, saying Ajaokuta, Bassa, Lokoja and Kogi LGAs would have their turn in line with the already drawn time table.

He urged the benefiting communities to avail themselves the opportunity to benefit from the laudable effort of government and partners in addressing their health challenges.

The commissioner reassured that government would continue to do all it could to provide quality health services to the flood affected communities and the entire Kogi citizens to ensure a healthy living for all.

Sunday Adewoye, the Director Administration, commended the state government for creating the enabling environment for the free medical outreach.

Adewoye noted that the free medical outreach had commenced in Ibaji LGA, saying he was impressed with the massive turnouts of the flood victims.

He, however, expressed concern over the deplorable state of the access roads to the affected communities in Ibaji, saying the flood had badly destroyed the roads.

Earlier, the Director of Public Health, Kogi Ministry of Health, Dr Francis Akpa, said the state government had responded promptly by locating specific camps for the flood victims, and the ministry provided medical services for the victims while they were still in those camps.

“’Additionally, we are preparing our teams with the support of WHO to commence preparation for any event of flood in 2019,” he said.

Akpa reiterated that the ministry’s Rapid Response Team had commenced preparations for the 2019 flood with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) to prepare the team for the next flood.

source:Independent