The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); has set up the
first physical rehabilitation centre (PRC) for people living with
disabilities in Northeast.
The centre, sited in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, will provide
physical rehabilitation services for hundreds of people living
disabilities in Nigeria’s conflict-stricken region.
Over a decade long insurgency, has also claimed 36,000 lives with
property worth $9.2 billion (about N3.42 trillion) in Borno, Adamawa
and Yobe states.
According to ICRC; “The cenre is to serve more than 2,000 people in
need of prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, crutches and mobility devices
by 2022.”
In a statement yesterday (Saturday) in Maiduguri, ICRC’s Country head
delegation, Mr. Eloi Fillion disclosed: “We are proud to have worked
with the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) to make this
centre a reality.”
According to him, the new physical rehabilitation centre in Maiduguri
will provide a wide range of services and mobility devices, including
artificial limbs, wheelchairs and crutches,
He said the centre will also provide physiotherapy and mental health
psycho-social support to people with disabilities.
On Center’s service capacity, he said that the PRC facility will start
operating with 34 staff.
He also noted that eight of staff are people with disabilities who
have undergone physical rehabilitation with the ICRC.
While lamenting rising cases of disabilities, ICRC’s physical
rehabilitation programme manager, Idah Kadyamatimba said: “We have
seen through our other physical rehabilitation centres how
life-changing these services are.
“At times people come to us crawling, and they go back walking on their feet.
“Because of this new centre, patients will no longer have to undertake
a long journey to Dala, Orthopedic, Kano or other states to receive
care.”
He noted that before the opening of the centre in Maiduguri, people
living with disabilities often had to travel to another ICRC facility
in Kano, a journey that can take 7 hours by road.
“We epitomize one of the definitions of making physical rehabilitation
services accessible and as close as possible to people in need,” he
said.
