Red Cross To Commission Wheel Chair Assembly Plant In Borno

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it will soon commission a centre for the assembly of a variety of wheelchairs in response to meet the increased demands for easy movement by physically challenged residents in Borno State.

The centre, located at the Pompomari Bypass axis of the Maiduguri metropolis, is to be commissioned before the end of this month.

This was made known on Friday by the head of the Physical Rehabilitation Centre of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), Surajo Jabo, during the commemoration of the International Day of Persons Living With Disabilities themed “Fostering Disability-inclusive Societies for Advancing Social Progress.”

He urged residents to remember that inclusivity is the very foundation of sustainable development, social cohesion and human dignity for all which is why his organisation has eight out of 24 staff who are physically challenged as a matter of policy.

Surajo noted that the centre will be able to employ as many as 1,000 challenged and non-challenged people when commissioned before the end of the year.

He revealed that about 3,500 people have benefited in terms of Prosthetic limbs in the centre from November 2020, when they started production of limbs, to date.

The coordinator stated that at least 300 requests are on the table waiting for their own share while the demand has increased from 25 to 30 cases monthly.

Serajo noted that about 12 cases of military personnel have also been fixed even as the insurgency war rages on.