Women from IDP Camps benefit from NAF Cancer Screening and Treatment exercise in Borno.

Over 40 women from different internally displaced persons IDP camps in Borno State have benefitted from the recently concluded Nigeria Air Force week-long free cancer screening exercise.

The exercise was held at the recently established NAF Cancer Screening Center at 109 Composite Group in Maiduguri from 16 to 20 May 2017.

Director of NAF Public Relations, Air Commodore Olatokumbo Adesanya said the exercise “was in fulfillment of the pledge earlier made by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar to extend healthcare delivery to less privileged Nigerians, particularly those in IDP camps.

He said, “The screening which covered cancer of the breast, cervix, ovaries, colon, and liver was also extended to NAF personnel and their dependents.

“The screening and treatment were conducted by NAF medical personnel who had earlier received in house training as part of the capacity building efforts of the NAF leadership.

“The screening methods used by the NAF medical personnel included colposcopy, ultra-sound, mammogram and laboratory test of various tumor markers.

“During the screening exercise, those detected with early stages of cancer of the cervix were promptly treated, free of charge, using colposcopy.

“The women from IDP camps equally took advantage of the opportunity to examine other key aspects of their health status at no cost”.

It would be recalled that the CAS had assured officers and men of the NAF during the weeklong training of healthcare practitioners by the NF Medical Services that in 2016 that the cervical screening facilities at the NAF hospital Abuja would be provided in other NAF hospitals across the country.

Air Marshal Abubakar has assured the IDPs and other members of the public that the exercise would be a continuous one.

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