October 27, 2017

As part of the recently commenced Operation RUWAN WUTA II, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has embarked on another round of medical outreach programme in Borno State. 

According to the NAF Chief of Medical Services Branch, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Saleh Shinkafi, the medical outreach programme is an initiative of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar. 

He added that the programme is designed to win the hearts and minds of the locals in the conflict areas as part of the overall campaign against insurgency. During the programme, free medical treatment would be provided to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), whose number could increase as a result of the intensive day and night aerial bombardments by the NAF. 

AVM Shinkafi stated that the CAS had also directed that surgeries be conducted, at no cost to the IDPs, for those requiring surgical interventions. A team of additional medical specialists has been deployed to the NAF 105 Composite Group Medical Centre to augment the existing medical manpower for the programme.

Upon deployment, the medical team immediately started attending to critical surgical cases in IDP camps around Maiduguri. 

So far, the NAF medical outreach team has successfully performed 21 general surgeries and 48 eye surgeries on IDPs from the various camps at no cost to the IDPs. 

Additionally, the NAF intends to extend the medical outreach to the IDPs in Monguno, where it is estimated that a minimum of 4000 IDPs will receive free medical treatment and another set of 250 will benefit from free surgical interventions within a 2-day period. This is the fifth cycle of free surgical interventions lined up by the NAF for the IDPs in the past 2 years during which an average of 200 surgeries are carried out per cycle.

The NAF commenced Operation RUWAN WUTA II, a few days ago, to further degrade the capability of the Boko Haram Terrorists and has already recorded a number of hits since then.