GOVERNMENT TASKS SURGEONS ON EMERGENCY RESPONSE

West African College of Surgeons has been urged to set up a Standing Committee on Emergency Disaster Response Unit to intervene rapidly by providing medical assistance to disaster victims globally.
Akwa Ibom Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio who made the call when the President and members of West African College of Surgeons paid him a courtesy visit bemoaned the adverse effects of the recent earthquake in Haiti, a black island community located in the Caribbean area.
Chief Akpabio pointed out that it would have been a plus to the body and to Africa if they have the unit on ground to respond to such a natural disaster in Haiti, saying that despite the peril and poverty in Africa, the world would reckon with the body for having the capacity to respond to such disaster.
“When you meet in Calabar during the 50th anniversary, you should have this as food for thought by setting up a Standing Committee on Emergency Intervention in Countries with natural disasters from West Africa, our voices would be heard around the world that we care for one another”, he added.
The Governor observed that the disaster was taking a heavy toll on the poverty-stricken country particularly as United Nations due to security reasons decided to abandon some of the victims to writhe in pains.
He observed that it would have been the joy of his administration with milk of human kindness for them to have come for assistance after they had actually gone to Haiti and rendered the needed medical help to the disaster victims.
Chief Akpabio expressed the hope that in future, Nigeria would always respond to such disaster through Rapid Response Team as a way of saving lives of people in other countries, noting that “it is not good for a black continent of the world to continue to wait for the developed world to render assistance in times of disaster’.

The State Chief Executive commended the surgeons for their contributions to saving lives, saying this informed the decision of his administration to have employed 15 retired consultants to cater for the health needs of the people.
He lamented the deplorable state for most primary and secondary health institutions in the state shortly on his assumption of duty particularly the dilapidated infrastructure, hinting that his government has taken delivery of four x-ray machines for the four renovated General Hospitals while five persons are to be trained for each of the hospitals.
The President West African College surgeons, Prof. Okechukwu Obiorah Mbonu said the body founded in 1960 operated initially as an Association of Surgeons of West Africa and changed to West Africa College of Surgeons in 1973. According to him, the college has trained more than 4,000 specialists in Anaesthesia, Dentistry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Ear-nose and Throat, Radiology and Surgery in the sub-region for the past 50 years.
Professor Mbonu announced that the College would host its 50th Annual Conference/golden Jubilee in Calabar from February 7-13, this year on the theme: Surgical Practice in West Africa – The Challenges, Innovations and Prospects expects 200 participants from the Anglophone and Francophone countries.
The President who congratulated the Governor on the numerous achievements in the health sector invited the Governor as a co-host to the meeting.