No less than fifty patients with severe facial and neck deformities have successfully undergone free complex reconstructive surgeries at the Noma Children’s Hospital, Sokoto, under a week-long medical mission that ended on Friday.
The life-changing intervention was spearheaded by the Kindred Health Surgical Foundation in collaboration with the Noma Children’s Hospital. The initiative targeted indigent patients who could not afford procedures that ordinarily cost between N350,000 and N500,000.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Abubakar Abdullahi Bello described the program as a lifeline.
‘Some of these surgeries are very expensive. In other hospitals, patients could be asked to pay between N300,000 and N400,000. But here, they got it done free of charge without spending a penny’, he said.
Arewa PUNCH reports that while the hospital provided operating theatres, wards, and laboratory support, the foundation covered the cost of surgery, medical personnel, and post-operative care.
Arewa PUNCH further reports that most of the beneficiaries were children affected by Noma, a devastating disease that destroys facial tissues and leaves victims stigmatised.
Professor Jacob Ndas Legbo, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital and the leader of the medical team, said the mission was designed to treat 30–50 patients within the week.
‘The foundation focuses on three things: training young surgeons, providing surgical equipment, and supporting indigent patients’, Legbo explained.
He added, ‘For this mission, we concentrated on ENT, maxillofacial, and reconstructive surgeries’.
The medic stressed that the foundation, established in 2023, in partnership with the American ENT surgeon Dr. Dave Shaye of the Project Life plans to make such humanitarian interventions more frequent.
‘This is just the beginning. With the support we have, we hope to mount interventions like this more often so that hospitals can treat patients who can not afford the cost of care’, Legbo said.
The Sokoto State Ministry of Health, led by the Commissioner Dr. Faruk also supported the program, which attracted patients from within and outside Sokoto.
Our correspondent reports further that for the 50 beneficiaries, the surgeries represent more than medical procedures — they mark a new beginning, free from pain, stigma, and social exclusion.
