NMA sets up medical centre at Plateau IDPs camp

The Plateau chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), has set up a medical centre at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Heipang, Barkin-Ladi Local Government.

According to its Chairman, Dr. Daniel Meshak, the centre has been equipped with assorted medical facilities to cater for the medical needs of the IDPs.

“We selected the Heipang camp because it is the most populous; we found that the IDPs camp was already at the risk of an epidemic and had to act promptly,’’ Meshak said on Thursday in Jos.

He was speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the association.

The NMA boss reaffirmed his members’ readiness to support the IDPs, and urged other organisations to do same so as to ameliorate their suffering.

Meshak called for more welfare facilities to support children in the IDPs camps, noting that they were more vulnerable to epidemics that could result from the terrible sanitary conditions in the camps.

In his remarks, Gov Simon Lalong thanked the NMA for the assistance rendered to victims of the attacks in the state, saying that the efforts had saved many lives.

The governor, who was represented by Dr. Kuden Kamshak, the Commissioner for Health, also thanked the association for collaborating with the state government toward effective healthcare delivery.

Lalong also thanked the NMA for the medical outreaches that had improved the living standards at the IDPs camps, and urged other organisations to emulate that step.

The governor urged medical practitioners to fully participate in politics to protect their professional interests.

Also speaking, Mr Dauda Gotring, Chairman of the occasion, decried the rising cost of medical facilities in the country, and urged the NMA to intervene.

Gotring called for synergy among health workers, and cautioned against mutual suspicion and rivalry that would impede progress and quality service delivery.