By Bianca Iboma
Over 500 residents of Yakoyo community in Ojodu Local Council Development Area, (LCDA) of Lagos State have benefitted from the free health medical outreach organised by the Rotary Club of Ojodu.
The club embarked on a three-day, medical outreach for less privileged and vulnerable people including old people, women and children, as they were screened for various ailments and treated. The medical outreach took place at Destiny Private School and saw the beneficiaries.
This semi-rural community got an opportunity to access different health services right at their doorsteps.
Project chairperson and a medical practitioner, Dr. Ime Okon said the outreach was organised to mark this year’s Rotary Family Health Day, the Rotary Family Health and Aids Prevention (RFHA), campaign is initiated by the International body of the organisation to bring free health services to underserved communities.
Okon said that over 500 people in the community were offered free health outreach, which included tests and treatments of all ailments. “Most people in disadvantage communities resort to self medication or herbs as treatment because of financial constraints and they can’t afford it.”
She stressed the need for government to increase health budget and continue to partner with organisations for interventions on health care delivery, in order to bring health services to the people. “Some people in the community have been able to test for HIV, screen for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
“This is an opportunity to be protected against these formidable diseases. Getting tested and screened and taking the advice of health workers on how to be healthy are vital to a successful community,” she stated.
The teenage girls that came out to attend the RFHDs were sensitised on menstrual hygiene, as well as given sanitary pads.
Okon noted that the Rotary Family Health Day is a way of serving humanity and helping residents and indigenes of the adopted community, adding that the medical outreach was a way of giving back to the community.
She said: “We are here for the Rotary Family Health Day, which is carried out every year. Our club took it upon itself to come to this community, which is our adopted community, to share what we have with them. We targeted over 500 residents here. We came here with drugs, we came here with the nurses and the doctors who checked them, and gave them the drugs.
“We checked their BP; we conducted malaria tests for them. Also, we checked their sugar levels. This is our service to humanity and this is what we do for them as charity. We brought things that we could afford for them, and it doesn’t mean that it ends here.
“Our treatment covered diabetes, high blood pressure, sugar level, and malaria for children. We shared sanitary pads, mosquito nets, detergent, antiseptic, toothpaste, and brushes among other items at the same time, we conducted hypertension screening, prostrate, and breast, cervical screening, and we de-wormed the children in the community. Dental care and eye cataract tests were also carried out.”
One of the beneficiaries, Abiodun Bello, who spoke with journalists, thanked the Rotary Club of Ojodu for the free medical outreach in the community, which he said, had taken care of their medical needs.