The Nigerian Government says it has provided free surgeries to 4,349 patients and screened 17, 793 indigent Nigerians in 2016.The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, disclosed this in a statement issued by Mrs. Boade Akinola, Director Media and Public Relations of the ministry, on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to the statement the ministry had set a target to conduct 10,150 free surgeries and screenings to help alleviate the sufferings of some indigent Nigerians who cannot afford to pay. It also said the ministry carried out over 200,000 nutritional interventions to Nigerians suffering from malnutrition in the North East. And it has since been scaled up to become a full fledge project of the “Health Sector Nutrition and Emergency Response’’.

Also in the statement , the project delivered a set of comprehensive health interventions and emergency services in the troubled region.

The health ministry inaugurated the Rapid Result Initiative (RRI) Programme in July 2016, to carry out surgeries and screening of indigent Nigerians.

The programme was borne out of the plan to respond to the critical needs of the people.