The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it attends to no fewer than 300 Yelwata victims seeking medical attention daily at its temporary camp in Makurdi.
UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Ms Gerida Birukila, disclosed this to newsmen shortly after the U.S.A. Government officials inspected health facilities and other intervention points at the camp on Thursday.
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Birukila said the agency in collaboration with others attend to no fewer than 300 victims seeking different healthcare needs at the camp.
She said that more than 50 pregnant women had also been referred to the hospital for delivery; just as over 1,000 mama kit bags had been distributed.
“We attend to between 250 and 300 patients with different ailments daily, and we work closely with other partners like the UNFPA, WHO, Red Cross Nigeria, JASPI, government and others.
“UNICEF and Benue State Rural Water and Supply and Sanitation Agency (BERWASSA) also ensure that there is WASH services in the camp and this is in a bid to check the outbreak of Cholera and waterborne diseases,” she said.
Birukila also disclosed that no fewer than 500 children have been immunised for polio.
She added that the children had also received other antigens to prevent outbreak of measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis among other diseases that required routine immunisation.
The UNICEF chief field office said that the organisation in collaboration with the Federal Government and other agencies had already intervened in the area of general healthcare services.
She further said that UNICEF also offered psycho social support for the traumatised patients including treatment of ailments, injuries and burns.
“We have hundreds of pregnant women in the camp here. There have been nine deliveries so far; we are able to take care of them in the camp, but those who needed more care were referred to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi.” she said.
Similarly, UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr Ifeyinwa Anyanyo, said that the organisation offered 24 hours integrated primary healthcare services at the camp.
Anyanyo said that the nine babies birthed at the camp and 35 others delivered at BSUTH and their mothers were all doing well, adding that no single death had been recorded at the camp.
“We conducted a multi sectorial rapid assessment in the camp to determine what the needs of the IDPs are. From that assessment, we were able to know what we should prioritise and what intervention we should provide.
“We have a clinic that runs 24 hours of the day; in a day on the average, we see more than 200 patients and the services provided range from clinical screening of diseases to treatment for minor ailments and immunisation services.
“We also treat chronic ailments; we do rapid tests and medical consultations. We also have the antenatal care and post natal services.
“We have seasoned medical professionals here providing these services,” she said.
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