The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria yesterday offered free medical services to internally displaced persons in the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking during the launch of the programme aimed at giving succour to the displaced persons in Waru, a suburb of the FCT tagged: ‘Project Total Health’ the Federal commissioner, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, said it was in line with the commission’s mandate to ensure inclusive, total, and free medical care for all persons of concern.
Suleiman-Ibrahim said the commission would continue to do the outreaches so that it can make the right kind of assessment, deploy and migrate the IDPs into the right platform.
She said no fewer than 270 persons of concern would benefit from the pilot project in the camp.
“I’m so excited about the new medical insurance bill that makes it mandatory for free medical care for the vulnerable and this includes all persons of concern, the IDPs, the refugees, returnees, people at the risk of becoming stateless and also the asylum seekers.
“Once that becomes properly implemented and once the trust fund becomes activated, we will continue to do the outreaches so that we can be able to make the right kind of assessment, ready to deploy and migrate these people into the right platform,” she said.
She further said the pilot phase covers all aspects of human health.
“So we check our eyes, general health checks, you know and so forth. We will also be able to strengthen capacities in the host communities so that we get ready for the migration into NHIA once it’s active,” the commissioner added.
Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim commended the medical experts for giving back to the society.
She said, “No one gives back to the society as much as the medical practitioners in Nigeria.”
One of the medical caregivers, a consultant ophthalmologist who is the head of the health care team for the project, Prof Kabir Oladogbolu, said the project was a good opportunity for them to address their health challenges.
According to him, the pilot project which will run for a week will bring relief to the people who had been displaced from their original homes due to insurgency and terrorism.
“Some are actually blind from cataract, some have infection, some have inflammatory reactions that could be treated,” he said.
Another volunteer, Dr Abdullahi Kazaure, a physician, said the development and productivity index of a nation relies on the percentage of its human productivity age bracket.
