Olam, Kwara Government offer free hydrocele surgery to indigent patients

The Olam Food Ingredient (OFI), in partnership with the Neglected Tropical Disease Department of the Kwara Ministry of Health has commenced free surgical intervention for 10 indigent patients with Hydrocele.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Hydrocele is a fluid-filled sac around a testicle, often first noticed as swelling of the scrotum.

Mrs Christiana Bamigboye, the Kwara Coordinator, for Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD), stated this on the sidelines of the free surgical intervention on Saturday in Ilorin.

She said that hydrocele is caused by filariasis, which is endemic in some rural communities in Kwara.

Bamigboye described filariasis as a tropical parasitic disease that affects the lymph nodes and lymph vessels.

“Lymphatic filariasis is spread by infected mosquitoes. Their bites deposit a parasite that travels to the lymph system,” she said.

She noted that Olam Food Ingredient partnered with the state government to offer succour to the indigent suffering from the disease.

Mr Babatunde Lawal, a representative of OFI, said that the agro company had been fronting several health interventions for agrarian communities in the state.

According to him, the company underscored the importance farmers to the development of Kwara and the nation as a whole.

He added that the health and well-being of the people was critical, hence the series of interventions by the company across communities.

Also speaking, Dr Stephen Arigidi, the Deputy Director, Medical Services and Training, Kwara Ministry of Health, said that if it does not go away or removed surgically, hydrocele could lead to inguinal hernia.

Arigidi explained that it is a condition where part of the intestine or intestinal fat pushes through an opening (inguinal canal) in the groin area.

He, however, noted that the disease could be treated through surgical procedure and patients would recover well and quickly.

Mr Muritadha Usman, a beneficiary of the free surgery thanked the state government and the company for the gesture, saying the intervention had given them succour.