•Research centre offers free medicals to the vulnerable

 

From Desmond Mgboh, Kano

The outreach programme organised by the Kano Independent Research Centre Trust (KIRCT), on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at Filin Kashew, Ungwan Uku, in Tarauni Local Government, was nothing but awesome.

Residents turned out en mass for the programme, having been well mobilised by stakeholders on the benefits of the outreach programme and the need to key into it. Before 7.30 that morning, the crowd had assembled and most of them queued up with various complaints of ailments to see the doctors. They were majorly women, especially mothers who came with their children, and aged men who were mostly accompanied by relatives.

Director-general, KIRCT, Professor Hamisu Salihu, said it was one way of giving back to the host community by supporting an already existing health care delivery system: “We also have Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, where we refer some of the outpatients with complex medical cases. At the end of the day, the centre underwrites the bills that are incurred in the course of such treatments

“We have so many problems in Kano. If people can come together with their money in a way that the people can benefit, just like the current free medical treatment and services that we are providing, it would be nice.

“There is an army of unemployed youth in Kano willing to be provided opportunities so as to be gainfully employed. For example, there are so many youth who were medically trained in Syria, India and Sudan, but roaming the streets without jobs, hence our commitment to create employment opportunities for them.”

Pharmacists dispensed medications to patients for treatment of ailments such as cough, malaria fever, joint pains and ulcer. A pharmacist, Ismail Abbas Ismail, said: “The drugs are of high quality. We dispense and counsel them on the usage of these drugs.

“The programme has been an eye-opener to all regarding the enormous health challenge in the society. Similar programmes should be organised and taken round the state.

“There are many unwell people in various rural communities who cannot afford to pay for the services of good medical attention or do not even know that they are suffering from ailment that requires the attention of medical experts.”

Related News

Dr. Ibrahim Khaliel Sabo told Daily Sun: “We were expecting to see them in hundreds. But you can see that they are in thousands and the whole place is overwhelmed. By mid-day, we cannot match the turnout.

This goes to show the extent of medical needs in the society.

“The unique thing about this outreach is the medication. It has been a long time since we saw this kind of quality medical services and drugs in an outreach programme like this.

“Another takeaway is the orderliness of the exercise. The services are being delivered seamlessly. Despite the crowd and the presence of a few politicians, there is no chaos and disorder.

“We estimated that we will reach out to more than 3,000 patents on the basis of our medication, our testing kits and the facilities that we came here with. We have different stations. We have consultation station, eye section and testing station.

“That is something like a working laboratory where the people undergo test for diseases like malaria and typhoid. We also have an experience station, where people are treated of common ailments like diabetes and hypertension.

“One thing that amazed me was that the first patient that I saw, her blood pressure was more than 200/90 and, thereafter, we gave her the required medication. And after 30 minutes of taking the medication, her blood pressure dropped. This is to tell you how effective our drugs are.

“Similar programmes will be extended to other communities. The centre intends to extend the free medical to all the 44 local governments in the nearest future.”

A community leader, 62-year-old Ibrahim Musa Tarauni, said: “Nothing like this has ever happened in this community in the past. They have saved scores of lives by extending these services to the vulnerable poor.

“Not only that, they have revived health and safety conciseness among our people, particularly by educating the people on the need to prioritise their health.

“I challenge them not to take too long before coming back. This sort of programme cannot and should not be a one-off thing. It should be held at regular intervals, not far in between, especially to follow up on their patients.”