Club takes free medical outreach to Ojokoro community in Lagos

The Inner Wheel District 912 Club, has offered free medical services to the people of Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos state.

The medical outreach was organised in collaboration with Rotary Action Group for Family Health & AIDS Prevention and Bill Gates Foundation on Wednesday in Lagos.

The forum also enlightened the community on some health conditions, the right use of medications, how to take care of the teeth and health, as well as personal hygiene to prevent transmittable diseases.

Mrs Abiola Aberuagba, Chairman of the Inner Wheel club, said that more than 500 primary school pupils and adults benefited from the medical outreach.

Aberuagba said the beneficiaries received free medical care from healthcare professionals that included family physicians, ophthalmologists, dentists, nurses and pharmacists.

She said that the beneficiaries were screened for Blood Pressure (BP), blood sugar, eye tests, cervical cancer, dental care, malaria and general body checkup, among others.

Aberuagba described the medical outreach as a part of the club’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to give back to the society.

She said that free drugs were dispensed to the beneficiaries based on their health conditions, as all the adult and puberty-aged participants went home with treated mosquito net and a pack of sanitary pad.

“The major objective for the outreach is to bring healthcare services closer to the community at no cost at all 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.

“No doubt, the outreach will not only create avenue for a lot of people to consult with a doctor, but will also relieve many of the financial burden on access to healthcare services,” Aberuagba said.

The Immediate Past National Representative of Inner Wheel Club, Mrs Zainab Ikehloa, said the medical outreach, which had been on for years now, was aimed at improving the well-being of the indigent people in the society.

Ikehloa, who expressed satisfaction over the turnout of the people for the medical outreach, reaffirmed commitment of the club to continually render such gesture and touch people’s lives positively.

Also speaking, the Chairman, Ojokoro LCDA, Mr Hammed Idowu, described the outreach as one of the good things that had happened to the residents of the community.

Idowu, who appreciated the club for the gesture, said the outreach was very helpful to the community as it provided an avenue for the residents including school pupils to access healthcare services at no cost.

A consulting doctor at the outreach, Dr Pius Amenaghawon, urged Nigerians to take their health seriously by going for medical check-up, particularly to check their oral health.

Amenaghawon, also a Senior Registrar, Paediatric Dentistry LUTH, lectured the participants, particularly the pupils on oral health and how to maintain good oral hygiene.

According to him, everyone is expected visit the dentist for dental check at least two times per year for any required treatment, to avoid decay teeth, bleeding gum or dirty mouth.

“Ideally, everybody needs to visit a dentist at least twice a year. And in their visiting, the dentist will examine the teeth, clean the mouth, fill the gum or give them oral hygiene instructions to maintain good oral health.

“From what I noticed here, most of the pupils and even adults have dirty teeth/mouth and bleeding gum. Thus, they need to visit the dentist.

“To live a healthy life, it is advisable that people avoid smoking, alcohol, unprescribed drugs as they have negative effect on oral health, kidney and the stomach,” Amenaghawon said.

Some of the beneficiaries, Oluwakemi Adelapo, Samuel Ariole and Ebenezer Joshua, all expressed their gratitude to the club and organisers of the outreach for the gesture toward improving their health and wellbeing.