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Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Relief came the way of the sick in Enugwu-Ukwu, a community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, as the Senator Ikechukwu Abana Foundation offered free medical treatment to residents.
The foundation visited the community with several packages for the indigent, including bags of rice and other foodstuff. Scholarship was also extended to 64 students drawn from secondary and tertiary schools.
At least 15 medical practioners were stationed at various points in Uruekwo Primary School, Enugwu-Ukwu, where the event took place, to attend to all who came to the venue with any of ailment. Diseases treated included malaria, eye problems, diabetes mellitus and tests for hypertension, among others.
There was also a pharmaceutical unit and an optical section with a quantity of eyeglasses for patients who underwent the treatment procedure; in addition to services rendered by health counsellors who were on ground to attend to the beneficiaries individually and collectively.
More than 500 persons, some of whom came from neighbouring communities and beyond, benefited from the two-day exercise.
Leader of the medical team, Dr. Emeka Mgbenwelu, a consultant public health physician, told Daily Sun that, apart from the general medical treatment, the foundation also offered old people free treatment at a special clinic set up for them by Abana.
“The essence is that Senator I.G. Abana is a philanthropist who has the health of his people at heart. I have been working with this foundation since 2012 and, since then, we have been having this programme annually. And every Saturday we see old people. We run what we call geriatrics clinic.
“We don’t know much about it here but it is much abroad. I am sure that it is what the senator saw when he travelled outside the country.
“If we didn’t have extended family system here, most of our elderly people would have died out of neglect. Abroad, they have old people’s home but here we have old people’s clinic. And it is open from Monday to Saturday.
“One of the things that kill old people is loneliness. Maybe you have your children but many of them are outside the country or town. And it is worse if the spouse has died; the elderly person is left alone.
“So, this man has good vision for his people and he is not restricting it to Enugwu-Ukwu, just anybody who is 70 years and above. And this particular one is for everybody. Nobody will ask you here whether you’re from Enugwu-Ukwu or not. Once you come, you receive free treatment. People come here and get glasses free. And this general free medical treatment is done here two days every year,” he explained.
In his speech, Senator Abana said he started the empowerment and free medical treatment about nine years ago to cater to the medical needs of the people, support education, and generally touch the lives of the people positively.
Abana urged the students who received his scholarship to take their studies seriously so as to justify the resources spent on them. He charged them to ensure they get good grades for their own good and that of their community and society.
