Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s Minister of Transportation, has urged Nigerians to contribute to the cost of treating those injured in Monday’s train attack.
When bandits ambushed a train traveling from Abuja to Kaduna, at least nine persons were killed and many more were injured.
Amaechi, who visited the attack site on Tuesday, said the attack would have been prevented if the N3 billion high-capacity train track cameras and sensors had not been blocked.
According to him, the technology would eliminate all blind spots on train routes across the country.
Amaechi said the army treated the victims without charging them a dime when he visited them at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna on Wednesday.
However, he said some of the patients need drugs that are not manufactured in the country, asking Nigerians to assist in raising the money.
”The CMD and I have been talking, the army has not charged one kobo on any patient, and they have given the maximum medical treatment that they can give to any patients.””You saw the patients with burns and then the one that has bullet located in her heart. They are bringing an expert tomorrow for that one to see if there will be surgery or not to take out the bullet.
”They said they have only seven (patients) left and the rest have been discharged. The ministry, and I think the federal government, are grateful to the Nigerian Army for providing such services. But one thing I have said to the Nigerian people is to liaise with the hospital management and see how much money they can contribute for the treatment of the patients.
”Obviously those drugs are not manufactured here, the experts they are bringing from outside doesn’t work with the army, so they definitely have to pay them. We will try as much as possible to see what contributions we can make to the management of the hospital to assist in taking care of the patients.” (NAN)
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