Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has promised to fund the overseas treatment of a seven-month-old baby, Verse Asaar, who was born with a hole in the heart, a congenital heart defect.
Baby Asaar, who is being treated at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) Makurdi, has been referred for further medical attention abroad.
Speaking during a visit to patients in various hospitals in Makurdi on Tuesday, Governor Samuel Ortom said Verse, just like any other Benue children, deserves to live.
The Governor, who also seized the opportunity to settle hospital bills of all patients at the teaching hospital amounting to N3.8 million, said his visit to the hospitals was to assist the patients and reassure them that the state had not forgotten about them in their moment of pain and distress.
He described as cordial and result-oriented the partnership between him and two of the 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.
Ortom also commended the Catholic Church and the management of Bishop Murray Hospital for the courage and resilience exhibited by the hospital through prudent utilisation of resources, even as he described as impressive the progress made in the hospital.
Responding, the Health Coordinator, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Rev. Fr. Peter Paleve, commended Governor Ortom’s life-saving initiatives through the free treatment of snakebites patients.
While maintaining that the Governor’s partnership with the Integrated Health Programme had transformed the hospital to a great extent, Paleve expressed the assurance that the Governor’s intervention, especially for the less privileged, would attract greater blessings from God.
The Governor visited the State University Teaching Hospital, Rahama Hospital, Bishop Murray Hospital and Federal Medical Centre.