NAN-H-100
Outreach
By Bukola Adewumi
Abuja, July 5, 2017 (NAN) The Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) on Wednesday engaged in a collaborative effort with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company ( SNEPCO) to provide a two-day free medical outreach service.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the service was provided for the people of Karu under the preventive and curative health care programme in Abuja.
The medical outreach is tagged “Health-in-Motion’’ to promote health care delivery in the country.
The Chairman of AMAC, Mr Abdullahi Candido, in his address at the programme said adequate attention needed to be given to health care delivery, especially to the people at the grassroots.
He said such attention would help give the people access to development and contribute to the development of their environment.
Candido said there were recorded cases of deaths mostly in villages and communities across the country which had resulted from minor ailments due to poverty and inability to access health care.
“No Nigerian deserves to die of headache because he or she can not afford panadol, nor deserve to die of any disease because he or she could not afford treatment.
“This ugly trend can be halted by this type of medical-on-wheels initiative,’’ he said.
The AMAC chairman said since a greater percentage of the country’s resources was being channeled annually towards health care services by government, “there is the need to collaborate with relevant bodies to achieve the goal of `health-for-all’.’’
Candido said without good health there could be no development, adding that development would be meaningless in the absence of a healthy people.
“I hereby call on corporate organisations, agencies and philanthropic bodies to incorporate these humanitarian services into their activities, so as to broaden access to health care delivery in the nation.’’
The council chairman however commended Shell for the laudable initiative of humanitarian service under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme to promote health care delivery in the country.
“This will make great impact in the Gidan Mangoro community and its surroundings,’’ he said.
The representative of the FCT Minister at the programme, the Director, Family Health Department, Dr Adebimpe Adeniyi, commended Shell for bringing free health care to the people of Abuja.
She, however, assured the people of further collaborative efforts so that Abuja citizens could benefit more, adding that the FCT has a programme called “better health for all’’.
The Manager, Regional Community Health, Shell (Sub-Sahara Africa), Dr Akinwumi Fajola, in his opening speech said SNEPCO’s aim in health-in-motion was to take free medical services to the people where they work and live.
He said the programme was launched in 2005 in the Niger Delta and thousands of people benefitted, while in Lagos over 4,243 persons have benefitted.
“Our presence in Abuja is part of a broader agenda to spread the initiative to different parts of the country.
“Our belief is that a healthy population will be productive, and this will in turn translate into the overall well-being and wealth of the society,’’ Fajola, who represented Shell’s General Manager, External Relations, said.
He said the free medical outreach would support the efforts of government at all levels in providing accessible health care to the people.
Fajola added that the outreach was not about the free medical screening but more about creating health awareness to save lives.
He said the free medical services include dental screening, eye test, screening for breast and cervical cancer, adding that reading glasses and drugs would be dispensed as required.
The Sa’ peyi of Karu, Mr Emmanuel Yepayi, in his remarks commended the organisers of the programme for remembering the people.
He however urged the residents of the area to take advantage of the opportunity to receive quality health care provided for them.
Speaking later with NAN, some of the beneficiaries commended the organisers for bringing such a programme to the people.(NAN)
BOL/OLAL
==========
(Edited by Olawale Alabi)