Pensioners in Benue State have been offered free medical care at the State?s owned University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) as part of Governor Hyacinth Alia?s move to make life easier for the elderly.

Chief Medical Director of BSUTH, Dr. Stephen Hwande, made this known in Makurdi during a press briefing on progresses achieved so far at the hospital within the past one year.

Hwande said that the pensioners were going through a lot in their bid to access healthcare, hence the state governor decided to ameliorate their suffering by ensuring free treatment for certified pensioners.

He noted that following the provision by the state government, the benefitting pensioners would access free cards, consultations, treatments and free bed space if admitted in the facility.

The CMD also disclosed that the facility recorded two deliveries of three baby boys through its first-ever In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure.

He said that the births involved two mothers ? one of the mothers welcomed twin boys, while the other gave birth to a single baby boy.

Hwande confirmed that both mothers and their babies were in good health after the deliveries carried out at the Muhammadu Buhari Mother and Child Hospital, an annex of the teaching hospital in Makurdi.

He applauded the team for the success of the procedure carried out in eight stages during the nine months period at a subsidised rate of N400,000 only, made possible by the Benue State Government.

?In the whole of northern Nigeria, only three public facilities are running the IVF. Benue teaching hospital is one of the first to commence the IVF and I?m happy to announce that we have had some deliveries. We have achieved the process of IVF with three babies ?all boys from two mothers.

?Other women are at different stages of the process. This is indeed a breakthrough. The process here is the lowest in the country at a subsidised rate without compromising quality. The average amount It takes to do IVF in Benue is N1.5 million but the state government has subsidised it for only N400,000 for the procedure at BSUTH,? he said.

The CMD thanked Governor Alia for his commitment to healthcare in the state, saying that the governor had already made available N20 billion for the BSUTH out of the total N82 billion voted for medical in the 2025 Benue budget.

He commended the governor for clearing N800 million in outstanding allowances for various categories of workers at the teaching hospital in a single payment on December 23, 2024, noting that this debt was inherited from the previous administration.

Hwande added that the governor approved a new salary structure for the hospital?s staff, aligning their earnings with those of other teaching hospitals nationwide. (Weekend Trust)

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