First Lady Aisha Buhari has called for adequate investment in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the country.

Buhari made the call on Wednesday when she received the beneficiaries of her free cardiovascular (heart) surgery at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The beneficiaries were at the Villa on a thank-you visit to the first lady for her assistance.

The first lady also expressed her desire to continue collaboration with other development partners in the health sector toward providing the necessary care to children of underprivileged families in Nigeria.

“ Through my Aisha Buhari foundation and the Future Assured, an idea was conceived to partner with other international heart surgeons from Italy to undertake free heart surgeries for Nigerians in need of such services.

“ The mission was deliberate to provide medical care to the needy, especially children with critical heart conditions and today we are able to celebrate with the beneficiaries after a successful operation.

She, therefore, expressed determination to support all efforts toward improving the health conditions of less-privileged children.

“ The feedback and heart-warming updates on how these procedures have changed the lives of patients and their families will always serve as a source of inspiration for me to do more.

”Based on the experiences gathered during the cardiac mission, there is a huge gap in cardiac surgery care in Nigeria which requires huge investment from both the public and private sectors, “ she said.

Speakers thanked the courage and intervention of the first lady toward providing succor to the less privileged.

The Chief Medical Director, of Federal Medical Centre Jabi, Prof. Sa`ad Ahmed expressed gratitude to the first lady for the partnership with the Italian surgeons where expertise was shared during the operation.

According to Ahmed, the beneficiaries would have found it difficult to cope with the conditions without the intervention of the first lady.

Mr. Murtala Dodo, who is a beneficiary, expressed appreciation to the first lady for resuscitating his life after battling with the disease for a long time.

The first lady had on Jan. 24, invited a team of cardiac surgeons from Italy to offer free heart surgery for the less-privileged children in Nigeria.