UMTH: PRC begins fabrication of 1000 artificial limbs for PWDs in Maiduguri.
By Mohammed Kaka
No fewer than one thousand artificial limbs would be fabricated by the Physical Rehabilitation Centre (PRC) at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) for People With Disabilities (PWDs) in Borno state.
Muhammad Dalori, Head of Production Unit of the Centre who made this known in an interview with our Correspondent yesterday, disclosed that a Philanthropist, Kashim Imam has since paid for the production costs.
Dalori who recalled that the center was established around 2020, maintained that the 1000 artificial legs and hands when fabricated by experts at the center, would be given free of charge to people with disability in Borno state to aid their movements.
He said that the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) built the center around 2017, adding that 6 staff of the centre were taken to Tanzania to learn the art of fabricating the devices for the period of three years by the ICRC.
He said, after completing the course, they were deployed to the centre which was donated to UMTH by the ICRC.
Dalori who further explained that the centre has 18 bed capacity, said it can accommodate 11 male patients and 7 female patients respectively.
“We deal mostly with People With Disabilities, either Congenital, people born with that disability or acquired . We can provide a person with prosthetics and we can provide polio-malities patient who is unable to stand straight with a supportive device to enable him or her to walk”, he said.
The Head of Production of the centre added: “we also provide wheel chairs, shoe modification for people with discrepancies and we also provide physio-theraphy services”.
“We fabricate most parts in the production unit and some are imported abroad . We have 9 professionals who are well trained. Six were trained in Tanzania while three of the professionals got trained in Lagos. We have 9 assistants, making the number of professionals to 18 in general that worked in the production unit”, Dalori pointed out.
He said that the Centre has been able to fabricate over a 1000 devices since its establishment in 2020 to date.
“At first, the ICRC provides devices for people who have experienced conflict and non conflict related people pay for their own services but later on, we got some philanthropists like Kashim Imam who came and paid for one thousand patients recently in advance”, Dalori said.
He added that the Centre commenced the production of the free devices as paid for by Kashim Imam since February, promising that all the 1000 patients would get it free as ordered by the Philanthropist.
“We will work tirelessly to ensure that the devices are made available to the beneficiaries on time. What we do here is unique, which cannot be found anywhere in the Northeastern Nigeria”, Dalori said.
He appealed to PWDs to report to the centre and get the limbs for free, saying “it’s free now because Kashim Imam has paid for the entire people of Borno state, anybody from Borno state if you know you have someone with disability, come to our center so that we analyze and asses you to ascertain your eligibility in order to access the device free”.
Dalori appreciated the management of the UMTH for hosting the physical Rehabilitation Centre and for collaborating with international comity of Red-cross (ICRC) to help the people of Borno state and Nigeria as a whole.