Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Over 3,000 patients are expected to benefit from the Free Health Care Medical Programme of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, currently taking place at the General Hospital Oguta in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.
The NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, said that the week-long free healthcare programme, which the NDDC organised in partnership with the Arit Walden Free Healthcare Mission, was in compliance with the Commission’s mandate to intervene in the health needs of the people.
Ogbuku, who was represented by the NDDC Director, Education, Health and Social Services, Dr. George Uzonwanne, said that over two million Niger Deltans, who had little or no access to modern health facilities, had benefitted from the medical missions over the years.
He said that the medical interventions ranged from consultations for things such as malaria or upper respiratory tract infections or children who had cuts, to cogent cases such as fibroid surgeries, eye surgeries with intraocular lens implantation and dental surgeries.
Ogbuku noted that there were many remarkable stories and testimonies which had come out of these interventions, emphasising that what NDDC had done was to provide the platform for God to perform miracles in the lives of our people.
He said, “As it is always said, health is wealth. And so, as part of the strategy to bring prosperity to the Niger Delta region, it was urgent and imperative for the Commission to build a region of healthy people. You cannot build a place without also building the people. Indeed, the people are the primary beneficiaries of development and it is they who can make development sustainable.
“The current Governing Board and Management of the Commission believe that to develop a place we must be concerned about and committed to developing the people. To heal the people is to heal the land and make it whole.
“In the coming weeks, the Commission will be visiting all the nine mandate states of the Niger Delta region, to take this free health programme to our people. In this first phase, we will also be visiting Owaza in Abia State, Otuasega in Ogbia, and Yenagoa, both in Bayelsa State, Akamkpa in Cross River State, Otujeremi in Ughelli North, in Delta State, Auchi in Edo State, Igbokoda in Ondo State and Ogu in Rivers State.”
Ogbuku observed that the Commission was providing a platform through which God would continue to work miracles in the lives of the people and through which the needs of Niger Deltans could begin to be realised and their dreams of a better Niger Delta region fulfilled.
The representative of Imo State on the NDDC Board, Dr Kirean Uchegbu, applauded the leadership of the Commission for providing a platform through which the healthcare needs of the people could be addressed. He urged the people of Oguta LGA and other neighbouring communities to avail themselves of the medical services.
The traditional ruler of Oguta, Eze Nnani Chinedu Nzeribe. lauded the NDDC for the free health programme, which he described as life-saving and impactful. “We are grateful that God is using the NDDC to help our people,” he said.
The Administrator of Arthur Nzeribe General Hospital, Oguta, Rev Fr. Anthony Emereonyeokwe, commended the NDDC for bringing the free medical programme to Oguta and using the facilities of the general hospital.
