Over 25 Doctors to Perform 100 Surgeries, 1, 500 Consultations, as 5-day Abia ANPA Medical Mission 2026 Begins

The five-day free medical outreach organised by Abia state government, in collaboration with the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), kicks off today, Monday, April 13, 2026.

Tagged Abia ANPA Medical Mission 2026, the outreach will take place in Umuahia and Aba, with about 25 Doctors from the United States of America expected to fly into Abia to participate in treating patients, including conducting free surgeries and medical consultations.

Briefing newsmen on the outreach in Umuahia, Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, said the exercise would commence on April 13 and end on April 17, 2026.

While the programme begins on April 13th with the arrival of the physicians, the opening ceremony takes place at the Michael Okpara Auditorium by 12 noon on April 14th 2026, with full healthcare services commencing immediately thereafter.

According to the Commissioner, two hospitals have been selected for the exercise, including, the Aba General Hospital and the Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Umuahia. He explained that all eye related issues and surgeries would be handled in the Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre while general surgeries would take place at the Aba General Hospital.

“We have a team of about 25 doctors that are coming from the US, and then we also have our local team that will work with them to ensure we have a very robust team, and they are going to operate and consult on April 14th, 15th, 16th, and  17th.

“It’s going to be a high-volume time, a very intensive time, but our team is prepared to be able to ensure that within this time frame, we’re able to meet our target.

“We want to see that we record, at least 1,500 medical consultations, and of course up to 100 surgeries.

“The eye surgeries will hold at the Abia State Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, in the eye section, and so we’re going to have two ophthalmologists who are going to work with the team there to deliver free eye surgeries,” Uche said.

He thanked Governor Alex Otti for providing the enabling environment and funding for part of the activities, informing that the skills and some of the consumables are being provided by the ANPA team as its contribution.

The Commissioner further revealed that sexual and reproductive health education, training of health workers as well as Abia Healthcare Rebirth Initiative programme were all included in the ANPA programme.

“There is another part of the project, and that is the training of health workers. We’re going to train 80 health workers on basic life support. Remember that in December, when we had the Global Abia Medical Outreach, we also trained health workers on how to resuscitate people.

“We need to champion a culture change that helps our health workers to embrace compassionate care, embrace the best practices, and then, of course, deliver the highest quality of healthcare,” Uche stated.

Uche said the outreach was put together to ensure that universal health coverage and that Abians enjoy the highest quality of healthcare.

Contributing, the Head of the Local Team of the Abia ANPA Medical Mission 2026 and Director-General of ABSACA, Dr Uloaku Ukaegbu described ANPA 2026 as a well-thought-out exercise.

Dr. Ukaegbu said that screening of blood and other necessary investigations, which are also free-of-charge were ongoing. “Those that will require blood transfusions, the blood is being provided so that they will be transfused before the surgery.

“The students in Abia (Ogbonnaya Onu) Poly and the youths in Abia are also aware from our flyers, from the jingles, that when they come, they will have their sexual and health reproductive questions answered by experts. They will also have some incentives.

“They will be provided with protective commodities and everything to ensure that they live healthy sexual lives.

“Like my Commissioner has said, it’s (ANPA outreach) going to provide us an opportunity for skills transfer from those who are coming from diaspora to our team,” she said.