From Austine Tule, Makurdi
The Benue State Government is to fund the treatment of a seven-month old, Verse Asaar, who was born with a hole in the heart known as congenital heart defect and is being treated at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi.
The AUTHORITY gathered that the boy had been referred for further medical attention abroad. Governor Ortom said Verse, just like any other Benue child deserved to live.
Ortom stated this when he visited patients in various hospitals in Makurdi including the State University Teaching Hospital, Rahama Hospital, Bishop Murray Hospital and Federal Medical Centre.
The Governor, who also settled hospital bills of all patients at the teaching hospital amounting to N3.8 million naira said the visit to hospitals was to assist the patients and reassure them that the state has not forgotten about them in their time of pain and distress.
He described as cordial and result-oriented, the partnership between him and the two hospitals – Rahama and Bishop Murray Hospitals in the treatment of hernia, snakebites and other medical conditions, saying many lives have been saved through the process.
He lauded the Catholic Church and the management of Bishop Murray Hospital for the uncommon courage and resilience exhibited by the hospital through prudent utilisation of resources, saying the progress made in the hospital was impressive.
Health Coordinator, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Rev. Fr. Peter Paleve, commended Governor Ortom’s life saving initatives through free treatment of snakebites patients, stressing that the Governor’s partnership with the Integrated Health Programme had transformed the hospital to a great extent.
He said the Governor’s intervention especially for the less privileged would attract greater blessings from God.
