Northeast: 50 health care workers to benefit from ICRC surgical training

Northeast: 50 health care workers benefit from ICRC surgical training

NAN-H-16

Training

By Temitope Ponle

Abuja, June 13, 2017 (NAN) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is set to train 50 doctors and other health care workers in skills needed to care for “weapon-wounded patients”.

In a statement from the ICRC in Abuja on Tuesday, Myriam el Kholi, the Deputy Head of Delegation in Nigeria said the three-day training would support the health system in the northeast.

“Eight years of armed conflict have drained the health system in north-east Nigeria of resources.

“Many health facilities have closed, doctors and nurses have fled for safety and the remaining ones often find themselves treating patients injured by bomb blasts or weapons with limited resources.

“We are collaborating with the Nigerian Ministry of Health to equip them with the necessary skills to deal with such situations,” el Kholi said.

She said that the ICRC, with the Federal Ministry of Health, had trained more than 430 Nigerian medical practitioners through such surgical seminars since 2012.

Gabriel Mufuta Kankolongo, ICRC’s health coordinator in Nigeria said the ICRC currently had two surgical teams working out of the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri to further support the country’s medical system.

“Since the beginning of the year, they have operated on close to 290 weapon-wounded patients,” Kankolongo said.

The three-day seminar in collaboration with the Federal Government began on Tuesday in Abuja.

The ICRC supports 23 state primary health care centres and three mobile clinics serving the displaced, returnees and residents in north-east Nigeria.

No fewer than 246,000 patients benefitted from these clinics between January and June. (NAN)

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