By Perpetua Egesimba
No fewer than 4, 000 residents of Apapa-Iganmu of Lagos have benefitted from a free health mission programme and intervention sponsored by the Apapa-Iganmu Local Council Development Area to provide free healthcare services to residents.
Residents of the areas were screened and managed for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetics, family planning services to persons of reproductive age. HIV screening and counseling sessions were part of the health package.
The second in its series was also witnessed by a team of five medical doctors from United States of America and South Africa led by a cardiologist, Dr. Sabul George, from United State of America attending to residents with different ailments.
While speaking with journalists, the sole administrator, Apapa-Iganmu LCDA, Hon. Olumide Olayomi, said the second free medical mission was necessitated as people die and were not opportune to check their blood pressure or know whether they were diabetic or not.
He said the turnout of residents for the exercise shows that there was a gap at the primary health care level and advised residents to visit the nearest primary health centre at Olojowon for proper medication and those given referrers to the General Hospital to do a follow up as health is wealth.
“I have also collaborated with highly skilled and trained professional medical personnel from the USA and South Africa led by Dr. George Sabul, who is one of the most trained cardiologists in the world to attend to the residents as free drugs is being administered on residents of the area,” he said.
According to him, the local council employed the services of community mobilisers, community development associations and landlord associations to mobilise residents for the free medical mission hence the huge turnout.
“I have designed a partnership programme with my friends under the auspices of Igbobi College Old Boys Association (ICOBA) and set out $1,000 monthly for the next two years. And I have donated ECG (Electro Cardiograph) machine to detect heart disease to our Primary Healthcare Centre to monitor hearth beat and treat blood pressure and manage the health condition of the populace,” he said.
The Deputy Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Olumuyiwa Wahab Jimoh, also commended the good initiative of the sole administrator for the free medical mission, saying the local council equally complements the efforts of the state government to improve the health of the people. He advised the people of Apapa-Ignamu to leverage on the initiative and check their wellbeing.
He also admonished the residents to make use of the Primary Healthcare centre nearest to them.
Commenting on the programme, Dr. George Sabul, said he was not just in Apapa-Iganmu to compliment the efforts of other Nigerian doctors for the free medical mission but also to train and sharpen their skills in other to be able to use the medical equipment donated by the sole administrator.
He said: “This is my second time of coming for the mission with my other five doctors from the USA and South Africa, who are anesthesiologist and gynecologist to complement the efforts of the doctors on ground. I donated a compendium of medical book to those doctors trained to improve their knowledge and better manage their health conditions so that they can maintain the equipment donated.”
Expressing appreciation to the local council, one of the beneficiaries of the programme, Mr. Afeez Adeyemi from Badia, who was screened and managed for hypertension, said the intervention offered through the medical mission was a form of succor, especially to poor residents who cannot afford the cost of accessing medical care at health facilities.
“With initial doubts in my mind, I came here after I heard about the programme from my neighbour but I was amazed at the level of coordination I saw here. I was ushered well to the section, where I was attended and got my medications at no cost.”
For Alhaja Mulikat Atanda, a 65 year old beneficiary from Olodan Street in Oke Oja, who was treated for complaints of body and joint aches, the free health services offered by the local council could not have come at a better time than now where the cost of accessing care is very high.
She noted that the initiative of reaching out to the people at the grassroots, especially the poor and downtrodden by the present administration of Hon Olamide Olayomi in Apapa- Iganmu has shown that the present government has a human face and feels the pain of the masses.