… another provides medical succour to 1,500 C/River community
In a bid to complement efforts of Oyo State Government, a group, Omituntun Initiative in the Diaspora (OID), has roles out medical invention to meet the health needs and promote healthy living among the citizenry.
The group Spokesperson, Mr Ayotomiwa Adebayo, made this known in a statement in Ibadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the medical outreach was being organised by OID and Seyi Makinde Volunteers (SMV), in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health.
Adebayo said that healthcare play crucial role in a democratic dispensation.
He said that the intervention would allow the citizens and residents in the state to make informed choice on who to govern the affairs of their state.
According to him, the medical outreach is to complement the effort of Gov. Seyi Makinde-led administration in the provision of sustainable healthcare access to the people.
He said that medical outreach was essential to successful democracy and allow people understand their medical conditions.
Adebayo said that different categories of healthcare professionals led by Dr Olufemi Olowookere and others from the state ministry would provide free medical services to the needy.
“Also, dentists, ophthalmologists and Opticians will be attending to people with dental problems and visual impairment. There will tests and eyeglasses given to them free of charge.
“The main purpose for the outreach is to touch lives by providing basic health education for patients to take control of their health.
“It is to offer free healthcare consultation services with free medicines to those who cannot afford routine general medical check-ups or treatment.
“Some of the tests to be carried out include blood sugar level, blood pressure, dental services, eye test, free glasses, general body checkups and other supplementary exercises,” he said.
Meanwhile No fewer than 1,500 residents of Etab Ayib village in Kasuk II Qua Clan in Calabar Municipal Local Government Area of Cross River benefited from a medical outreach provided by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS).
The outreach was organised by the Jokaina Deck of the association that is also known as “Seadogs” as part of activities to mark the confraternity’s 70th anniversary holding globally.
President of Jokaina Deck, Mr Sylvester Nsor, said the essence of the outreach was to realise Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) Three which centred on health.
Nsor said they focused on the SDG Three in a bid to cater for the health needs of people living within their host communities.
According to him, “As a non profit organisation, we thought it wise to bring medicare closer to the people, especially residents of Kasuk II Qua Clan because we feel their pulse and we know that healthcare is very expensive.
“A lot of people living within the community have not had any test for years and some for decades.
“So, after our consultation, we decided to bring in medical doctors, pharmacists amongst others, who can check their blood and sugar level, vital signs including blood pressure, malaria and typhoid tests and so on.
“After carrying out tests, we provided drugs to the issues we can handle immediately while the people who need to visit tertiary health facilities were refered to such facilities and all our services are absolutely free.”
On his part , the Clan Head of Kasuk II Qua Clan, Dr Edemdem Ayito, lauded NAS for the kind gesture and noted that healthcare had become so expensive which many rural inhabitants could no longer afford.
The clan head commended the association for choosing to carry out an exercise of such magnitude in his domain that had brought succour to his subjects as well as residents of the area.
“A lot of people find it difficult if not impossible to go to hospital these days because they can no longer afford it .
“I sincerely thank the national association for finding time for this humanitarian services which come with a huge sacrifice.
“The services they have rendered are totally free and it had taken a huge burden off the palace and my people too.
“A lot of persons have resorted to self medication and over the counter drugs, which is very dangerous, but we can’t blame them because many of them don’t even have what to eat talk more of going to see a qualified doctor. So NAS has done us a great favour today,” he stated.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Lovett Origele, said she was happy for the free medical check up and the drugs , stressing that NAS brought medicare to their doorsteps, making healthcare easily accessible.
“I want to thank NAS for carrying out this free health service in our neighborhood, It’s a settlement community where there is no functional health centre, the outreach is a welcome development.
“This exercise has brought healthcare closer to the people who may not have time or may not have access to it. But with this gesture by NAS, a lot of people will access healthcare services for free which they have not done in years,” she said.(NAN)
