Sickle Cell Victims To Enjoy Free Medical Treatment In Kebbi
From Ayodele Ajoge, Birnin- Kebbi
The Kebbi State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KECHEMA) has assured the Sickle Cell Association (KESCA) of 300 allocation slots for its members to have unlimited access to free medicall treatment to its members across The state.
The Kebbi State Coordinator of KESCA, Hajia Khadiza Yahaya Shantali disclosed this while fielding questions from newsmen in Birnin- Kebbi shortly after the association’s monthly Members Forum.
She explained that, while they were grateful to the Executive Secretary of KECHEMA, they are also expecting that the sickle cell bill before the House of Assembly which has passed the second reading would be implemented to relieve the financial and emotional burdens of their members.
Hajia Shantali said: “You all know that Sickle Cell patients are facing a lot of challenges such as financial, economic and emotional burdens. With these 300 slots from KECHEMA, we are very grateful. The burden of 300 of our members, financially has been relieved and satisfied”.
“It will help their parents too. Because, with these slots, if a child with sickle cell develops crisis, the parent would immediately take her or him to the hospital for treatment, not thinking about whether there is no money for medical treatment. The hospital would collect the child’s card and all the bill will be passed over to the KECHEMA for settlement.
“We are very grateful to the Executive Secretary of KECHEMA, Dr. Jafar Augie Muhammad, for these slots”, she said.
Shantali explained that the association with about 2,882 members still need more assistance from eminent Nigerians, philanthropists, and NGOs to come to the rescue of their members, stressing that, their contributions and interventions would go a long way to soothe the pains some of their members are going through in their respective homes.
Earlier, the Guest Speaker, Dr. Sadiq Ibrahim Maianu, a Heamatologist at the Heamatology Unit, Federal Medical Center (FMC), Birnin Kebbi, counseled KESCA members to always seek treatment at the hospitals during their crisis and after.
He said they should always comply with the advice prescribed for them by doctors at the hospitals, stressing that it would help them a lot to survive as the ‘warriors ‘ battling sickle cell anaemia.
Another speaker at the occasion, Mallam Sadiq Abubakar Koko, urged the KESCA members not to hide their crisis at their homes; instead, they should visit hospital and always follow instructions given to them by Health workers to avoid crisis
