By Chioma Umeha
They came from different parts of Epe Local
government (LGA) of Lagos with various ailments seeking for medical attention.
Many went home thanking goodness as solutions were provided for their ailments,
while those requiring secondary attention were given clean referral to the
General Hospital. Clean referral means that right from there they are
transported to the general hospital for further attention.
Since four months, many residents of Lagos State
have been enjoying free medical treatment courtesy of Eko Health Mission
programme. Under the Eko Health Mission programme, many have received medical
check for the body and various conditions, including – diabetes, hypertension
and other ailment ravaging the communities visited. Some also received free
dental and eye check with glasses.
Recall that the Dr Jide Idris, the State
Commissioner for Health, had said early in February that the government will
carry out free medical mission across the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local
Council Development Areas(LGAs/LCDAs) of the State for three-days weekly from
March 1, to June 8, 2017.
Over 128,000 Lagos residents have benefited from
the on-going Eko Health Mission programme; a medical intervention sponsored by
the State government, Idris said.
Idris, who said this weekend, at the flag-off
ceremony of the programme for Epe LGA, Eredo and Ikosi-Ijirin LCDAs at the Epe
Local Government Secretariat, explained that the beneficiaries cut across 15
Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas that have been visited.
Some Epe residents who benefited from the
programme could not hide their feelings as they were full of gratitude to the
governor.
Akpakala Kolawole, a retired officer who was
treated and was further referred to the General Hospital is thankful to the
state government for all his efforts to his people, especially to the people of
Epe.
Kolawole said: “My left eye is infected and I was
given drugs free of charge with a paper to go to General Hospital for further
checkup. Mr. Akinwumi Ambode has been trying. I have seen the effect in Epe.”
he said.
He also advised other members of the community to
come for their own medical checkup like he did.
Indeed, for Odunlami Samuel Oluwole, 83- year- old
retired teacher who left the service in 1989, life is good once again after
receiving quality medical attention in his eyes free of charge.
“I have gone for eye operation before now, on
December 31, 2015, though there was improvement, it was below expectation. So
that’s why I said I must come and take the advantage of this. They gave me some
advice and further appointment to see doctors in the General Hospital. I was
treated of cataract and the doctors that treated me didn’t take any money from
me after giving me free glasses,” he said.
For Lasisi Abibat, a 17-year-old secondary school
graduate, she can confidently laugh again in the public following free
treatment to her teeth.
“I came here to take care of my teeth, and they gave
me tooth paste and brush. I was attended to so well and no money was asked of
me. They advised me on what to do concerning two of my teeth that are
abnormal,” she said excitedly.
However, the highpoint of the Eko Health Mission
which took place at Epe Local Government, weekend, was the discovery of high
incidence of hypertension and diabetes, a burden in the LGA.
However, Dr Dolapo Fasawe, Director of Eko Free
Health Mission and also a Director in Lagos State Ministry of Health noted that
the people of Epe in terms of nutrition are well nourished. “We have not been
seeing malnutrition which is something common to other local government areas,
but unfortunately, there’s a very high incidence of blood pressure and also
diabetes,” she said, while commending the large turnout.
“The turnout in this Local Government has been
good, we had over 2000 patients yesterday, and as you can see today the crowd
is more than yesterday and we very excited about it because the objective is to
reach as many as possible with our message and our free health care.”
She further said: “What we do here is primary
healthcare, however, we see more complicated issues like hyena, prostate
cancer, hypertrophy and we send them to the General Hospitals. Unfortunately,
many of these people are not able to bear the cost of the sickness, but they
are aware of their conditions. We even see people with cancer, but what this
programme does is to educate them more and do a clean referral to the General
Hospital, meaning right from here we transport them to the General Hospitals.
The government usually tries as much as possible to subsidize the bill.
However, the Lagos State insurance scheme is coming up and when people
subscribe to this scheme, diseases like this will be treated for next to nothing
as long as you are paying your premium,” Dr. Fasawe added.
Dr Fumi Sokumbi, Director, Medical Training
programmes, Lagos State Ministry of Health, while emphasising on the importance
of the scheme said Eko Health Mission is taking medical care to the grassroots.
“The 2017 Eko health Mission is different and
unique because this is the first time we have such a mission that we had to go
to all the Local Government Areas at a stretch. Every week we have to go to one
LGA and this is the 15th edition of the 2017 Eko Health Mission. We have five
LGAs and LCDAs to still visit which we are going to do.
Dr. Sokumbi also advised the people to adopt good
personal hygiene and live in good and clean environment because many of these
diseases can be prevented by so doing.
According to her, many people were treated for
dental care with over 8, 000 having their teeth cleaned.
However, the Sole Administrator of Eredo Local
Council Development Area (LCDA) Muyiwa Okesanya, while appreciating the
governor said: “The programme is a wonderful initiative because it was part of
the campaign promises of Gov. Ambode to close the health gap between the city
and rural community; that is the intention of having this programme across the
communities.
