Picture showing some patients at the free healthcare services provided by a former Acting Vice Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU), Prof. Peter Akah, at Umunyem-Umuebele Village in Okporo Community, Orlu Local Government Area of Imo on Wednesday.
Healthcare
By Peter Okolie
Orlu (Imo), June 19, 2024 (NAN) A former Acting Vice Chancellor, Imo State University, Prof. Peter Akah, on Wednesday, organised free healthcare services to at least 1,000 natives of Okporo Community in Orlu Local Government Area of the state.
Akah, a professor of Pharmacology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who hails from the community, also inaugurated a Clinic in the area.
In a speech at the event, he said that the project was initiated to address the health challenges of the vulnerable members of Umunyem-Umuebele
Village in Okporo Community, mainly the aged, women and children.
He expressed concern over the “alarming rate of deaths in his community” because the villagers could not afford medical treatment.
“Things have been hard generally. Sincerely, if I had 20 calls in a day, 18 of them ask for money to buy drugs, not even food.
“I know how much it is to pay for consultancy, let alone hospital bills and I can imagine what people in the village go through,” Akah said.
According to him, many of the villagers are moving around with high level of malaria and typhoid, prostate cancer, diabetes and partial stroke without proper medical attention.
“We discovered numerous cases of ulcer because people can no longer feed or are rationing their foods,” he said.
Akah said that the outreach also offered free HIV and COVID-19 tests for those who wished to be screened, while drugs were given to those diagnosed with different aliments.
“I felt the need to give back to my community by providing somewhere they can get access to healthcare effectively,” he said.
Reacting to the development, the President of the town’s union, Chief John Egolu, thanked Akah for the kind gesture, especially in establishing a clinic in the area.
“A visit to the facility shows that there are beds and full theatre for surgery and there is a promise that more equipment would be brought, subsequently.
“This vision of our dear son, Prof. Akah, is that which will in no small measure help our people, especially by getting healthcare services closer to them,” Egolu, represented by Mr Chinemerem Iyiagu, said.
Also, a 67-year-old stroke patient, Mr Charles Okechukwu, while thanking Akah for the gesture, described him as “God sent to help the less privileged in the community.”
“We have never seen this type of medical care in our village,” he further said.
Another stroke patient, Mr Thomas Mbagwu, 75, who said that he had been down with the ailment for over four years, expressed delight over the medical mission.
He prayed God to grant Akah long life and good health to sustain the gesture in the community.
Another beneficiary of the health mission, Mrs Fidelia Ibemike, 89, said the health facility had brought healthcare services closer to the people.
Ibemike said that the facility would reduce the sufferings usually encountered in traveling to other communities for medical treatment.
According to her, many aged persons have died in their homes in this community because they lacked the money to seek medical attention. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
OPC/OIF/USO
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Sam Oditah
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