Eighty Hydrocele Patients Get Free Surgeries In FCT

By: Prudence Okonna

The FCT Administration with support from the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and Health & Human Development Support (HANDS) has provided free surgeries for eighty indigent patients living with hydrocele

The Hydrocele surgery is meant to relieve the affected persons, which are specifically Male, from the discomfort experienced by their enlarged scrotum.

The programme manager of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Public Health Department (PHD), Dr. Eunice Ogundipe, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Abuja Digest at the Public Health Department, Area 3 Garki, Abuja.

She said that the essence of the surgery is to relieve poor community members living with hydrocele, which is the enlargement of the scrotum; adding that it comes with a lot of stigmatization and discrimination among community members.

Dr. Ogundipe explained that Hydrocele is a disease that is predominant among men in poor living conditions, especially in rural communities, who cannot afford to pay for their surgeries.

The Programme Manager revealed that Hydrocele is caused by the blockage of lymphatic lobes, which accumulates water, enlarges the scrotum, and causes discomfort for the affected person.

Her words: “Mosquito is the vector responsible for lymphatic filariasis, so, along the line it blocks the lymphatic lobes and it leads to accumulation of water that cause these enlargements in the leg, breasts for women and in the scrotum for men (Hydrocele)”.

According to her, the first batch of 26 recipients have commenced surgeries in a Primary Healthcare Center in Gwagwalada Area Council and the next batch will commence soon.

She, therefore, calls on interested persons, who need the surgeries or know anyone who does, to report to the nearest PHC around them.

Speaking, the representative of HANDS in the FCT, Achai Ijah, revealed that following the Memorandum of Understanding signed with FCT-HHSS in 1995, they have continued to support the activities of Neglected Tropical Diseases within the Territory.

Ijah said that the CBM and HANDS provided funding and support through advocacy, community mobilization, and sensitization with the intention to improve the living conditions of those who need the surgery.

In an interview with one of the beneficiaries, Moses Babangida, revealed that, when he began to feel discomfort in his scrotum, he visited a nearby Primary Healthcare Center in his community, at Kwali and was told it was Hydrocele but he did not have the money to pay for his surgery; adding that his Disrict Head, “Hakimi” listed his name for the surgery upon discovering about his case.

Babangida expressed his appreciation to the FCT-HHSS and CBM/HANDS for helping him with the surgery.