By Johnson Adebowale
The O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation (OBLBF) has vowed to work tirelessly to improve the health and well-being of the most underserved communities across Nigeria.
Its chairman, Seinye Lulu-Briggs, gave the assurance, yesterday, at the Model Primary Healthcare Centre in Ikuru Town, Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, during the official opening ceremony of the 38th Free Medical Mission (FMM).
One of the Foundation’s signature initiatives that draws participants from across the state and Nigeria is its medical missions, during which the organisation offers free medical care to those in need.
The 38th FMM, which commenced on Monday, April 17, has treated over 1,600 patients with 53 general surgeries in the first two days, including removing a benign congenital lump on the shoulder of a 10-month-old baby.
The father had messaged the Foundation through its Facebook page on Monday, inquiring if an operation to remove a lump on the arm could be done on an infant at the FMM. He was asked to send the medical report and photographs so that the Foundation’s medical team could review them and respond to him professionally.
On Tuesday, he brought the boy to Ikuru from Port Harcourt, and doctors removed the lump.
A team of five professionals, including two surgeons, also attended to a patient whose fibroid surgery had been botched elsewhere. She was in surgery for more than two hours, where the medical team removed a hernia and repaired and completed the removal of her fibroids.
Lulu-Briggs noted that despite efforts to increase healthcare provision in Nigeria, “about six out of 10 Nigerians lack access to quality primary healthcare services. At the same time, about 80 per cent have become poor due to ill health or lack of payment for medical services.”
She disclosed since the Foundation began hosting free medical missions in 2005, it has attended to 139,500 people in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Rivers states.
Speaking at the ceremony, King Aaron Miller Ikuru, Okaan-Ama of Ikuru Town, said it was a good day for the people because they had been expecting such a crucial intervention in the community for a long time.
The king, represented by one of his chiefs, William Michael Omayi, further appreciated the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, saying: “The King-in-Council is delighted because you are doing what the government ought to do for us. “
We have a beautiful health infrastructure, but there are no doctors and nurses. In emergencies, we have to rush to Bori, which is not ideal.”
The Andoni Local Government Chairman, Erastus Awortu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Council, Franklin Owajionyi Dimaye, reiterated the council’s commitment to delivering quality healthcare to the people and appreciated the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation’s intervention.