The ICRC lamented that the Boko Haram insurgency in the region had caused shortages of doctors, nurses and medical equipment to cater to the victims.
Approximately 290 residents of Borno State, who were injured in Boko Haram attacks, have undergone surgeries at the state’s specialist hospital in Maiduguri.
A relief agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross, disclosed this on Tuesday at a seminar in Abuja, saying the statistics of surgeries was from January to June 2017.
The seminar was organised by the Federal Ministry of Health and the ICRC for 50 doctors, surgeons, trauma nurses, and psychotherapists to care for “weapon-wounded patients.”
The ICRC Health Coordinator in Nigeria, Gabriel Kankolongo, said, “The ICRC currently has two surgical teams working at the state specialist hospital in Maiduguri. Since the beginning of the year, they have operated on close to 290 weapon-wounded patients.
“Eight years of armed conflict have drained the health system in North-East Nigeria. Many health facilities have closed down. 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,” the ICRC’s Deputy Head, Myriam el Kholi, added.
The ICRC said it currently supported 23 state primary health care centres and three mobile clinics in the North-East, adding that in 2017, 246,000 patients had visited the centres and 11,000 babies were also delivered.
Oluwa see the poor baby
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