VVF: 50 Women Receive Free surgery in Gombe

From Rabilu Abubakar, Gombe

No Fewer than 50 women have benefited from the free UNFPA sponsored VVF Surgery in Gombe.

The UNFPA carried out the free treatment in collaboration with the Gombe state government with the support of the Fistula Foundation and the Norwegian government.

The surgery was conducted at the Gombe state specialist hospital and the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Mu’azu Shu’aibu, said that it was done out of sympathy over the situation the women go through whenever they find themselves with that health challenge.

Dr. Shu’aibu stated that in the past, if a woman comes to the hospital for urinary tract infection, she would be sent to Jos or another hospitals for treatment because it was not done in the facility.

He said that the more the women suffer from not only urinary incontinence, but also toilet incontinence that prevents them from entering the community, they are rejected to discrimination by the same community.

According to him, from September 2023 till date, 64 women have been treated at the hospital for free.

He then said that in the near future, the specialist hospital in Gombe state will start conducting the surgery of urinary tract like any other treatment.

The representative of UNFPA in the field, Dr Olanre Bajuwa, said that their efforts are always to see how they can help women with such problems.

Dr Bajuwa said that he does not see why women are being discriminated against or are being left to die of frustration because they have found themselves in such a problem.

Some of the women who benefited from the treatment programme praised the authorities and the government of Gombe state for the free treatment given to them.

The women said that they are now happy and will return to their husbands in good health.