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Taking medical services to the poor, sick, old in Ebonyi

In Afikpo North/South Federal Constituency, Ebonyi State, the sick, old and the poor were the beneficiaries of the four-day free medical outreach in the area sponsored by the member representing the constituency, Hon. Iduma Igariwey, UCHENNA INYA reports

Afikpo North and South federal constituency in Ebonyi State like every other part of the country has its own health challenges and this why adequate healthcare services must be provided for the people to save them from the health challenges they have been passing through. The people who encounter these challenges the most are the rural dwellers. Dr. Femi Aworinde, a family physician even acknowledge this when he spoke to our correspondent during a four-day medical free medical outreach for the people of Afikpo North/South federal constituency on the need for medical services to these set of people in the localities.

“Most of us in the village are not properly taken care of health wise and this is why you often see people dying mainly out of carelessness,” he said. It was against backdrop that the member representing the constituency, Hon. Iduma Igariwey, organised a free medical service to the people; with over 20,000 persons, particularly the sick, the old and the poor, benefitting from the gesture. The common sickness in the area are; high and low sugar ailments, high blood pressure, diabetes, eye problems, arthritis, infection and STDs among others.

The sufferers first underwent laboratory tests during the medical outreach and were thereafter referred to doctors that specialized in their ailments who prescribed drugs and sent them to pharmacists for their drugs after counselling them. One of such beneficiaries was a blind woman, Mrs. Beatrice Igbo from Amaobolobo community. She has been battling ulcer and severe headache apart from the eye problem she has. She said such medical outreach was timely to reduce sudden and untimely deaths in Afikpo, adding that people have been dying like fowls in the area for lack of medical care.

“I heard that our representative in Abuja is organising free medical services for our people and I decided to come and access it because I am not feeling fine, I have eye problems. I also have ulcer and headaches. “I thank Iduma Igariwey who thought is wise to offer this free medical service to us, it is timely especially now we are confronted with one sickness or the other which has been causing deaths in this our place, people are dying and most at times they don’t access medical care.

So, I thank our law maker for bring this medical outreach to us,” the clearly grateful woman said. Another beneficiary, Mrs. Orieoma Egwu, 70, said she also has eye problems and commended the lawmaker for the gesture. “I am happy to benefit from this medical outreach. I came with an eye problem and persistent cough and doctors have attended to me. I thank our lawmaker, Idu for this gesture,” she said.

A 75-year-old man, Idam Otu Idam from Amasiri, who also benefited from the free medical outreach, said: “I came to access the medical service provided by our lawmaker. If all sons and daughters of Afikpo, who are in politics, are behaving like him, things would have changed. I have seen doctors and I have been given drugs, I am happy for this.

I am suffering infection and the drugs I was given can flush it out of my body.” While addressing the beneficiaries, Igariwey, who was represented by his wife, Mrs. Florence Igariwey noted that several deaths that occur are as a result of negligence to health conditions. She encouraged people, especially the aged ones who are BP patients, to visit health care outfits for regular check-ups since the medication for the condition is fairly affordable.

She advised the people to embrace water therapy as it has proven to be a major detoxifying agent in maintaining balance in the body system and warned against the consumption of packaged and carbonated foods as according to her, they are harmful to vital organs of the human body. She underscored the relevance of body fitness and exercise, adding that they help to keep the heart and other vital organs working optimally. “We should be taking enough water; there is need for water therapy in our body system.

When you wake up early in the morning, take enough water, drink the natural water we have not all these waters we have today which are not natural. “We have to also engage in domestic cooking exercises, we have to use our hands and prepare the foods we eat because it is part of regular exercises and keeping fit.

Let us stop buying prepared foods. When you are preparing your foods by yourself, it is at that moment that the blood in your system circulates because you are doing exercise but the moment you buy already prepared foods, you are not engaging in all these little domestic exercises which help our body system,” she said. Dr Femi Aworinde, a family physician, who was the leader of the medical team, decried the dearth of basic health infrastructure to cater for basic community and family health care needs and commended Igariwey for prioritizing the healthcare of his constituents.

He said: “This medical outreach is very important and we need to commend the organiser and the sponsor of this programme. The point is this, the health status of our communities in Nigeria is deplorable; many of our children suffering from infectious diseases and many of our pregnant women not have good and adequate obstetric care because of the failure of the health system in this country and we need to salute and commend Hon. Igariwey for coming up with this initiative to give back to the constituents. Other colleagues of his should emulate this kind of good gesture and a programme like this have a multiplier effect on the people. It is something that should be sustained; it should be a periodic thing that will always come around. “We are projecting 10,000 beneficiaries from each of the local governments.

However, we have the capacity to go beyond that. Infectious disease is common here and one of the things this kind of thing will do is to generate data for decision makers to make informed decision as far as Afikpo North/South is concerned.” On his part, a Medical Laboratory Scientist, Ihebueme Herbert, said the team conducted medical screening on diabetes, sugar level, HIV, hepatitis and other aliments on the beneficiaries. “When the patient sees the doctor, the doctor will look at what is wrong with the patient and at the same time outline some investigation to be done and here is where we do tests, we conduct actual diagnosis to know what is wrong with the patient and one of the things we do here is we run blood sugar tests to know whether the patient’s blood sugar is high or low.

“If it is too high, that is hyperglasfemier and it is not good and if it is too low, it is hypoglasfemier and it is not equally good. So, the blood sugar level in the system needs to be balanced, it needs to be normal and that is why we are here and we have seen some of the patients that theirs is very high and we had to refer them to the doctors so that he/she will be taken care of by taking appropriate drugs. “We also conducted RVS which is what we call HIV to know who has it and who doesn’t have it. It is not a killer sentence and that is why we are equally screening for it.

We also have hepatitis. It is another important aspect that has to be done in this community because you know that sometime when you don’t take appropriate care of your liver, it is dangerous and this hepatitis we are talking about actually affects the liver and the liver we know is the engine of your body.” A member of the medical team, Okechukwu Ukpabi, in a health lecture, encouraged people to cultivate the habit of consuming healthy natural foods, like it was in the olden days as against the current trend of eating processed foods which he said are harmful to the human body. He explained that food items like onions, garlic, ginger and tomatoes help the kidney to function optimally by effectively synthesizing food in the body.

He also noted that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are real and require high discipline to be put in check and advised sexually active adults to maintain intercourse with a single trusted partner. Ukpabi further advised adults to go for regular blood pressure checks so as to live longer and encouraged the people to reduce the intake of oily and fatty foods in order to control the cholesterol levels of their bodies, adding that it could lead to death which might not be easily traced to diseases of any kind.

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