11th April, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government will as from Monday begin free surgery on 48 residents of Badagry area of Lagos suffering from goitre, a disease associated with swollen neck that is becoming rampant in the area.
At a news conference on Thursday at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said government decided to organise free surgery for the affected people in its bid to make life worth living for the people.
Idris said government was concerned that several people in Badagry had been inflicted with goitre, stressing that at the last count, 50 people were discovered to be affected by the disease.
He said the last health mission in Badagry recorded a huge turnout of people with goitre, adding that this informed government’s reason to give the affected hope. The surgery will last for about four weeks.
“Because of the occurrence of this alarming number of neck swellings in an isolated region and because of the physical and financial burden of referring these patients to secondary and tertiary health care facilities, it became necessary to develop a comprehensive strategy that will offer an effective and holistic approach, whose impact will be felt in the long run,” he said.
The commissioner said the free goitre surgery is under the Badagry Goitre Control Programme, where people inflicted with the disease in the area will be operated free of charge by the government.
Idris added that in order to reduce the incidence of the disease in the long term, measures were being put in place to stem its root cause in the community.
“They may include measures such as health education of the community members, iodization of their salt and other processes that the public health professionals of the state might judge suitable. Lagos State Government is committed to improving the health status of its citizens by ensuring access to affordable, qualitative services and ensuring best practices,” he explained.
Consultant General Surgeon, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH and team leader, Professor Mobolaji Oludara said out of the 48 people screened for goitre, three of them had toxic goitre while the rest had simple goitre. He disclosed that the age bracket of those to be operated fell between 40 and 49 and that they were all from Ajara Village. Most of them were women.
He said about three surgeries would be performed daily and that about 14 cases would be treated in one week.
Oludara said toxic goitre could affect the heart in the long run and that when the affected person allowed it to degenerate into thyroid toxic crisis, the person could die.