By Sam Kayode
WHAT DOES TODAY’S OCCASION MEAN TO YOUR INSTITUTION, UMTH?
Prof Sandebe… One, we are celebrating one year of this building. It’s a big one, constructed, equipped and furnished by the international committee of the Red Cross ICRC. It was done mainly to help people living with disabilities by fixing them with artificial limbs. Before, when we had patients, with disabilities they travel as far as Kano to access such services. And the centre in Kano most times can’t accommodate many clients at the same time, so they go through a long waiting period. But with this modern physical rehabilitation center (PRC) well-equipped by the ICRC in which they also train our staff, we are celebrating. On training, six staff went to Tanzania, three in Lagos and nine went to Kano for work here. They are also paying the bills of the PRC and even patients who cannot afford the bills of the services. As we know, most of these things are imported and if the funds are not there most patients will not benefit. But there is solace somewhere because some of our big time politicians like Senator Ali Ndume bring clients and pay for them. Some North-east Governors are equally funding the bills.
I think this is a call for celebration to see what we have achieved so far, within the last one year. And we know that for them to access one person and fix the limb for him, it will take at least five days because there are various types of training and fabrications they need to go through.
In the last one year, we have been able to do at least 381 prosthetis together and that to me is a huge success. One, the prosthetis are manufactured here. Two, the clients are trained to handle them after being fixed. Successfully we fabricate our own here, yet we have more on the queue needing the service.
ON SERVICES…
This goes beyond just prosthetis. Sometimes when a disabled person comes, the work on that patient does not only stop at the fixing of prosthetis. We review a lot of things. Is there a problem with the limbs? Can the limbs or the stump after the amputation access the inner portion of the prosthesis? Was the surgery that was done good enough to access the posthesis? Why all these review? Because there are some cases that need to go for another review surgery. Sometimes two or three times before using the prosthesis. This is because we do not want the person to feel some pains or undue discomfort. And mark you, all these surgeries are being paid for by the Red Cross.
This is, itself, new and nobody knows how to remove or refix it unless you are trained. Some posthesis are old and are not fitting well so a new one is fabricated for them and it’s also coming out easily. So new ones will be done for them
HOW MANY OF THESE WENT TO THE MILITARY?
For now I cannot tell you how many went to the military or the civilians separately because we did not categorize it by profession. But a good number of those we are talking about were fished out of the IDP camps by the ICRC. Sometimes they are brought in from the point of injury for us to treat before the posthesis is fixed. But there is also another list from the camps as I said.
WHAT NEXT FOR THIS CENTRE PROF?
The next challenge is how to rehabilitate them into the society. Even in this aspect, the ICRC has been helping especially in skills acquisition. Most of them have been dependent for a long time on others. That is why the next thing on the agenda is how they can survive on their own without being dependent on anyone. Which is why we are always calling on rich philanthropists to key into the many achievements we have registered in just one year of this edifice.
