ANPA 2024 Week: 200 doctors converge on Umuahia to treat 5, 000 patients, perform 300 surgeries in 10 days

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

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L-R: Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo, President of ANPA, Dr. Chinyere Anyaogu, during the Press Conference on the ongoing ANPA Medical Mission in Umuahia, Abia State

About 200 medical doctors have converged on Umuahia, Abia State capital, to treat over 5, 000 patients with various ailments: out of which 300 patients have been booked for different surgeries, during a 10-day medical mission, an annual charity work, by the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA).

The Medical team, made up 60 Nigerian medical doctors resident in the USA, who are members of ANPA, and about 100 local medical doctors practicing in Nigeria are all volunteering their services for the ANPA 2024 Week, an annual medical mission which the association chose to hold in Abia State this year.

Medical services on offer, according to ANPA, include surgeries of all types, medical treatments and consultations and capacity building.

Briefing newsmen in Umuahia on Monday after the ANPA medical mission team had arrived Abia since last Thursday and cleared the initial teething problems, Team Lead and President of ANPA, Dr Chinyere Anyaogu, said they were ready to take on the tasks for which they were in God’s Own State.

Dr. Anyaogu explained that the association chose Abia for its 2024 Medical Mission because the vision of the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, aligns with the vision of ANPA which is to provide a better future for the people, especially the vulnerable.

“We are here to give service to the indigent who are unable to afford the cost of their healthcare needs. Throughout our 30 years of existence, we strive to serve the needy and help to provide care to those who may not be able to afford it during the process of our ANPA Week. ANPA Week is a week of service delivery, but it also encompasses capacity building. I am excited to be here as the guest of the Honourable Governor of Abia State, His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti, whose vision is in alliance with ours, towards creating a better future for those who have and have-nots,” she said.

The ANPA President said she was hopeful that her association would achieve its goals during the medical outreach and thanked all stakeholders, including Abia State government and the numerous non-governmental organizations supporting the group. “We hope our patients will enjoy receiving care as much as we have them and given,” she added.

Contributing, the ANPA Mission Chair, Dr Dele Ekunsanmi, said that the 5, 000 pre-registered patients would be treated of all kinds of sicknesses.

“People will have surgeries, people will have medical consultations; some will need mental health consultation, we are here to take care of that. We have cardiologists, Urologists, we have general surgeons; we have everybody here. Our mission is for one week but we will be in contact with majority of the people who need to be contacted via telemedicine consultation after this mission,” Dr Ekunsanmi said.

According to him, ANPA spreads its dragnet throughout the world when it comes to its medical mission.

“We have done missions for more than 25 years. We go to different states in Nigeria and sometimes, we go to outside of Africa to help the needy and the poor,” the Mission Chair stated, adding that those who participate in the medical outreach, offer their services free of charge.

He therefore commended the 60 ANPA members who came from USA and doctors practising locally for their enormous sacrifice, which he stressed, was nothing but just giving back to society. “Our members, I want to thank them. We have about 60 volunteer doctors from United States and we have more than a hundred volunteers locally here in Nigeria, some from faraway places like Abuja and several states in Nigeria and majority of the local volunteers come from within. So, I want to thank all of them for showing up. This is a volunteer work, so every one of us must thank these people for showing up and giving their services,” he said, while also commending Governor Alex Otti for partnering the group in carrying the medical outreach going on at designated centres, including the Federal Medical Centre, General Hospital, Amachara; Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre and Madonna Hospital, all in Umuahia.

Other members of ANPA, including ANPA President-elect, Dr Clifford Eke, and neurosurgeon, Dr. Chine Logan, said the services by their association, was like “sowing of seeds.”

Speaking at the news conference, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo, said the medical mission was an extension of what Governor Alex Otti was already doing in the area of healthcare delivery, assuring that all patients treated during the medical mission would be followed up by the state government, through the various General Hospitals where they registered for the medical outreach.

Dr Mrs Okoronkwo disclosed that apart from carrying out surgeries and attending to other medical issues, ANPA would conduct capacity training for about 200 medical doctors and other medical personnel. She added that the ANPA would also be training medical personnel in Abia through telemedicine after their medical mission in the state.

“We are very intentional in our administration. This is not the kind of mission, whereby after attending to people, they leave and you don’t know where they are. And to that effect, all the people that were registered came through a structured process already in existence. So, the General hospitals are aware of them, they are going to continue to follow up on them until they make full recovery,” the Commissioner said.

The Commissioner hinted that the state government was conducting upward review of salaries of medical personnel in the state to discourage them from leaving for abroad in search of greener pastures.

“As a government, we are trying as much as we can to reduce the number of people leaving the system and, to that effect, we have started working on the health workers’ salaries to improve and increase their salaries and also to engage more people into the system. 

The Chairman, Local Organizing Committee of ANPA 2024 Medical Mission and Medical Director, FMC, Umuahia, Prof. Azubuike Onyebuchi, Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Information and Culture and Ministry of Health, Sir Chris Onwuegbu and his Ministry of Health counterpart, Dr. Ify Uma-Kalu, among others, were present at the Press Conference.