Are we doing enough? Enough for the people suffering from the most depressing condition of polio-affliction abounding in Nigeria?
The children were being carried along while adults crawled to reach the OPD. But our team of doctors, determined to change their lives, went about their work till late after the formal flag off on 3rd December itself so that the patients could be prepared for the surgeries next morning.
These were the questions that the doctors were asking themselves. For long we had forgotten similar conditions that prevailed in our country earlier too but not to the extent that we were witnessing in Nigeria, that continues to real under wild polio virus transmission, and which has impacted the lives of many children in various nooks and corners of the country.
The children were being carried along while adults crawled to reach the OPD. But our team of doctors, determined to change their lives, went about their work till late after the formal flag off on 3rd December itself so that the patients could be prepared for the surgeries next morning.
The teams are working today in two groups, both approximately 60kms apart in suburbs of Keffi and . Gwagwalada that takes almost one-and-a-hour hour minimum to reach the destination. A quick breakfast at the Hotel's restaurant - the base camp - at 7am every day, two coaches take the team of doctors to their respective destinations.
The moment they get down, it is no less than a philharmonic orchestra at play. Perfect team work, excellent coordination between the volunteers, anesthetists and orthopedicians, assisted by the local doctors and the nursing staff of the Federal Medical Hospital at Keffi and University of Abuja Teaching Hospital at Gwaagwalada, the Indian missionaries go about doling out their affection, care and concern on little children.
At times, no one is bothered about the time, the lunch or tea-break, or a little rest, touching on an average 50 surgeries and two-to-three times of procedures.
The task is monumental. In a short span of 10 days not everyone can be reached. Yet the Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria had been grateful and is providing every support to identify children from various parts of their country and bring them to Abuja for the surgeries. How many we can do is not the question. How much difference to every single life that we are able to bring on the operation table is what matters.
At times, no one is bothered about the time, the lunch or tea-break, or a little rest, touching on an average 50 surgeries and two-to-three times of procedures.
The task is monumental. In a short span of 10 days not everyone can be reached. Yet the Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria had been grateful and is providing every support to identify children from various parts of their country and bring them to Abuja for the surgeries. How many we can do is not the question. How much difference to every single life that we are able to bring on the operation table is what matters.
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