By Abujah Racheal
ABUJA – The Cedarcrest Polio Cetre, in collaboration with Cedarcrest Hospitals and Rotary Club of Koblenz, Germany, on Wednesday organised a walk in Abuja to create awareness for Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS), in Nigeria.
Other collaborators in the enlightenment walk exercise included the Police Centre of the Catholic Hospitals in Koblenz/Monabaur and Ottobock.
Dr Felix Ogedegbe, Medical Director, Cedarcrest Hospital, while addressing the crowd that thronged in for the exercise, thanked them for the interest in the efforts to rid Nigeria of polio.
Ogedegbe said that the walk was aimed at commemorating the World Polio Day and to also create an awareness on the need for steady attention to polio survivors.
He said that the aim was to make treatment available to people living with residual deformities after suffering from acute poliomyelitis infection.
“The Nigerian experience has shown that battling polio was not only about vaccinations, but also waging a complex war against the PPS with Nigerians affected by Polio.
“Government and relevant agencies must leverage on the experience of polio to support the fight against PPS in the country.
“As Nigeria continues to work towards the eradication of the threat of polio in the country, there is need to provide support services to polio survivors,” he said.
Ogedegbe said that succour was on the way for people who had been affected by polio with arrangements completed to offer them medical care and free assessment and treatment.
He regretted that many polio survivors were suffering from treatable medical complications and preventable secondary deterioration while the medical community was generally unaware of recent advances in polio care.
NAN reports that 100 Polio victims were offered free medical care and treatment as part of the activities to commemorate the 2019 World Polio Day.(NAN)
