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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
Hundreds of people in Mbiabong Itam and beyond, in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. on Thursday benefited from free medical services offered by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS).
The exercise which held at the community health centre intervened in such health issues like blood pressure checks, malaria, eye/dental care, general test, as well as free drugs to patients.
NAS Capoon, Abiola Owoaje said the move was to support government at both federal and state levels to alleviate the plights of the rural populace, since government cannot shoulder all responsibilities of the citizens.
Owoaje said such intervention has been one of the regular engagements of the association as some members who are medical personnel partner some healthcare facilities to render voluntary services during such interventions.
He listed some of the services rendered during the outing to include; blood pressure check, blood test, check on blood sugar level, HIV test, dental/ eye tests. All these he said came with treatment, free drugs and referrals where necessary.
“We have medical doctors amongst us who are in the organization and we have other people who are within the medical field who volunteer their time and resources to help out.
“We try to ensure that the people always come first whenever we have need to reach out. So that is why we are here today and we are very much happy that we have been welcomed here in this community. The community will continue to benefit from this kind of activities.
“After a medical mission like this, we usually follow up from time to time. We have done various blood test, check-up, blood sugar level, HIV test, dental and eye tests as well. We have also done blood pressure test. These are the kind of primary tests we do.
“And whenever we find the need to do a follow up on some of the critical cases we identify, we have means of referring them to either hospitals or other specialist that will carry on from where we stopped”. he said
One of the medical volunteers, Dr Amaku Etim told Daily Sun that the team had examined children with very high temperature, some other serious illnesses which had b treated and some that we have done referrals.
“We have seen a couple of diabetic patients and we have patients with very much high blood pressure, we commenced treatment on them. The whole idea is to deliver good quality healthcare service to this community.” he said
A beneficiary of the free healthcare services, Mr Ifiok Eton who got a pair of glasses after undergoing eye test commended NAS for the timely intervention.
Eton said he had almost lost his sight due to his inability to raise N15000 as required by the hospital he earlier visited for his eyesight.
In his words “I am an elder in the church and I find it difficult to read the Bible because the texts are tiny. I have made efforts a couple of times to acquire glasses for myself but it’s difficult to gather such amount. May God bless them for this wonderful relief”.
