No fewer than 50 Vesico Virginal Fistula patients in Kano have benefited from free surgery sponsored by the First Bank of Nigeria Limited.
Similarly, 100 other repaired patients received empowerment packages from the Bank in Kano State.
This is contained in a statement by the Executive Director, Public Sector, FBN, Abdullahi Ibrahim in Kano, obtained on Saturday.
He said the gesture was part of the bank’s activities in the area of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
“As part of activities marking our social responsibility week, we decided to sponsor the surgery for 50 VVF patients.
“After undergoing surgery, we will also empower them to enable them start businesses to support themselves and their families.
“We are also supporting additional 100 women who were already being treated with the same kind of resources,” Ibrahim said.
He said that Obstetric Fistula is associated with psychological, social and economic challenges, including stigma, discrete, abandonment and neglect.
“This is why there is the need for rehabilitation and reintegration based on patients needs.
“That is why philanthropists, well-to-do individuals, Nongovernmental organisations, corporate organisations join hands with government to support the affected patients,” he said.
The Executive Director said each of the patients would be given portable pasta making machine, a bag of flour, vegetable oil and soybeans.
The state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, who was represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zahra’u Umar, commended the bank for the gesture.
She said the gesture would go a long way in helping those survivors to reclaim their lives and return to their communities with confidence.
Ganduje urged other stakeholders to partner with the state government in various aspects of social developments to enhance the living standard of people in the society.
Ganduje said that the drug addiction reformatory programme at Kiru was one area that required the intervention of Nongovernmental organisations.
Most of the beneficiaries lauded the bank for empowering them and promised to make best use of the items given to them.
