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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
People with various ailments in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State heaved a sigh of relief when a team of medical officers stormed the area recently for a free medical outreach.
They were sent there by Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo who represents Idemili North and South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
Idemili South LGA is made up of seven communities, namely: Akwu-Ukwu, Alor, Awka-Etiti, Nnobi, Nnokwa, Oba, and Ojoto.
The medical event, tagged Cardiovascular Screening and Community Health Outreach 2026, took place at St. Paul’s Catholic Church premises in Ojoto community and many residents were diagnosed and treated of various ailments.
According to the organisers of the outreach, its benefits were free cardiovascular screening, cancer risk assessment, eye examination, and lifestyle risk profiling.
Others were onsite medical counselling, limited medical support for known cases, free eyeglasses, free insecticides for the control of mosquitoes and others.
The lawmaker said that the health outreach was organised by his office in partnership with Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, and Annie Okonkwo Foundation.
He revealed that a similar health outreach would also be organised for the residents of the communities that make up Idemili North LGA the following day; and that hundreds of people with various ailments would be diagnosed and treated at no cost to them.
“This outreach will not only form a basis for educating the people on the necessary ailments that they may be affected with, but also to give them necessary prescriptions; conduct eye tests, and then also make sure that they are aware of issues of cancer”, he stated.
Okonkwo said that drugs, eyeglasses, and insecticides for the control of mosquitoes worth several millions were given to the beneficiaries at the event.
“Health is wealth and without having good health, we cannot do anything to survive in this world.
“Before we do our business or our activities, before we serve as public servants, we have to make sure that we are healthy, fit and able to achieve what you have set out to achieve.”
Okonkwo said that the medical officers offered a range of healthcare services to the people and also educated them on various lifestyle issues to enable them make right choices that would be beneficial to their health.
“So, we are here also to educate the people so that they can understand better on what they will be able to eat; what will work well in their systems. And then each person will know what mixes well within their body”, the lawmaker said.
Okonkwo said that the medical outreach was not his first as he had been doing that for quite a while, moving from one part of the country to another.
“This time we decided to bring it down to our own home which is Idemili North and South. We have done outreaches in Lagos, Abuja, Katsina, and other parts of the country.
“And we will continue to do that because that is one of the objectives in which we want to use to continue the legacy of my father, Late Senator Annie Okonkwo and what he had always done for the people.
“From here, once we are done with doing this today in Idemili South Local Government Area, we are going to do it in Idemili North LGA. After Idemili North, we are going to locate another state,” he explained.
Leader of the medical team, Dr Ngozi Okonkwo, a consultant family physician at NAUTH, said that the team had 10 doctors, five nurses, five optometrists, and about two pharmacists to ensure that every patient was adequately attended to.
“We are here for cancer awareness and screening and then cardiovascular health. We screen people for cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension and diabetes”, she explained.
“We are expecting 250 participants today from Idemili South LGA. So, what we are doing actually is those that have vision problem, they will see our doctors that are in charge of the eye.
“We dispense glasses. Those that require medications, they give them drugs. If they need a follow-up, this is a one-off thing; if there is a need for continuous management, they will be referred to a clinic where they will be receiving continuous treatment and follow up.
“Then likewise also for those with cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and diabetes. We see them here, we give them drugs for a short while; and those of them that are hypertensive already, that have been on drugs, we also refer them to a nearby clinic where they will continue managing.
“Because it is not after taking these drugs they will go home. We are trying to achieve sustained treatment and then prevention of cardiovascular events like stroke, kidney problems and all that.
“That is why we are referring them to where they will have a continuous treatment”, she explained.
The doctor lamented the prevalence of maleria, hypertension and other ailments in the area and advised the residents of the area to take issues of their health more seriously.
“It is really high, especially as it concerns hypertension because so many of them, more than 20 per cent of the people that I’ve seen today, they came with elevated blood pressure.
“Some of them close to 200, some 180 and that range. And so many of them did not even know that they have such hypertension. So that is really the reason and the need for such outreaches.
“Some are just going about with a very high blood pressure, that if not taken care of or intervention given to them, they can come down with problems like stroke, kidney problem, seizures and all that,” she stated.
Speaking further, Ngozi said: “We gave a health education telling them what hypertension is all about; the risk factors, the symptoms and what you will feel in your body and you will feel like, maybe you have hypertension you need help; that you need to go to the hospital to seek proper help.
“If you have hypertension, how you are going to continue managing it. And we are also telling them about the need to comply with their medication because that is the key in the management of hypertension.”
One of the beneficiaries of the free healthcare services, Mr. Ifeanyichukwu Emefo from Ojoto community, commended the lawmaker for organising the medical outreach, saying that many of the beneficiaries wouldn’t have been able to pay for it in the hospital.
“What is happening here today is good because as it is today, many people are suffering from different ailments. Some of them do not have money to go to the hospital.
“So, our brother has done well by organising this community health outreach. He just saved people’s lives”, he stated. He also commended the medical team for their professionalism.
