30/01/2023
STATE COORDINATOR VISITS SAKI WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT: ATTENDS MEDICAL CDS OUTREACH; AIDS MOSQUITO NETS DISTRIBUTION
The newly appointed State Coordinator of Oyo State, Mr. Abel Odoba, in a bid to promote health education and medical awareness, visits Saki West Local Government and also took part in the medical check-up and health talk. The event took place at the Okere Palace Hall also had in attendance, the Local Government Inspector (LGI) for Saki West Local Government, Mr. Orimogunje John, the Assistant Director of CDS, staff members of the CDS team from the state headquarters, corps doctor, the Okere of Saki land emissaries, chiefs from the palace and the medical CDS members. A Health talk was delivered by the Medical CDS Doctor, Dr. Kolawole Jude, who admonished the indigenes and invited guests on healthy living and the importance of medical check-ups.
The residents of the community came out in their hundreds to partake in the exercise, which gave them the opportunity to know their mental and physical health status, as well as appropriate medications for them, the activity also featured free General consultations, physiotherapy, blood pressure check, blood sugar screening, Retroviral screening, Hepatitis B and C screening, eye test, dental check-up, among others. A team of Corps Medical Officials from Iseyin camp joined the group to attend to the residents and indigenes whose blood pressure, sugar level, and eyes, among others, were tested and received medications.
While speaking with newsmen in an interview, the Medical CDS President, Raheem Azeez Abiola said “The major objective for the outreach is to bring healthcare services closer to the community at no cost because access to medical care is a big challenge in Nigeria. A lot of people with one underlying ailment or the other are dying in silence because they can’t afford the exorbitant hospital bills. We as Corp members saw the need to do something about the deteriorating health of some of the members of the community, so we sought help from buoyant members of the community and NYSC, and to the Glory of God we were able to come up with this initiative the little way we can”
The Medical CDS Doctor, Dr. Kolawole Jude, stated that "from the tests conducted, most of the indigenes are not living healthy, as some of them were diabetic and with high blood pressure". Sessions were held on how to live a healthy life. Participants were encouraged to have good health-seeking behaviour and desist from self-medication or drug abuse.
The Vice President of the Medical CDS group, Juliana Olaoye, said, "these things are expected, as some of the participants are elderly, who experience health conditions as they advance in age and it keeps getting worse due to the negligence of their caretaker or lack of proper health education.
One of the beneficiaries, Alhaja Awero Suaibu, who could not hide her joy, expressed gratitude to the Corp Members and NYSC for the kind gesture. She said, in her native dialect, Yoruba, “I am happy for this malaria treatment and dental check-up because I don’t have money to go to the hospital, we thank the Corp members and their leaders for bringing this kind of program to the community for the old and elderly, and we also appreciate them for the mosquito nets and drugs”
Other beneficiaries of the free medical check-up and health awareness were widows, widowers, single mothers, children, bike riders, community chiefs, Pregnant women who are most vulnerable and prone to malaria infection, nursing mothers, adults and adolescents.
(C) EDITORIAL CDS TEAM
SAKI WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT