Nigeria: Medical personnel from conflict areas attend surgical seminar

Since 2012, some 400 Nigerian medical practitioners have gained additional skills to treat weapon-wounded patients and those in need of an amputation. CC ICRC / Eleojo Esther Akpa Abuja (ICRC) – Nearly 80 doctors, nurses and other health care workers from across Nigeria have attended a three-day surgical seminar aimed at improving the skills needed to respond to traumatic injuries. The seminar was sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Nigeria's Ministry of Health. "It is quite obvious that one of the most basic needs in the North East right now, is access to adequate medical care, apart from food and shelter." said Karl Anton Mattli, Head of Delegation in Nigeria for the ICRC. Since its inception in 2012, nearly 400 Nigerian medical practitioners have attended the surgical seminar – now in its seventh year -- which gives doctors and nurses additional skills to treat patients wounded by weapons and those in need of an amputation. "Two ICRC surgical teams work out of the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri as a way to further support Nigerian patients and medical personnel," said Padshah Hashemi, the ICRC's health coordinator in Nigeria. "Our surgical teams have operated on close to 1,500 weapon-wounded patients in Maiduguri this year. " The ICRC also supports 16 state primary health care centres and eight mobile clinics which provide primary health care services to internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and residents in North East Nigeria. Between January and end of August this year, almost 309,000 patients attended these clinics, which saw the delivery of almost 10,500 children in the same period. Close to 8,650 children under age 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition received treatment in South Borno state. For further information, please contact: Aleksandra Matijevic Mosimann, ICRC Abuja, tel: +234 706 418 90 02 or +234 703 595 41 68 Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on Google+ Share on LinkedIn