More than 300 people benefit from Rotary’s free medical service
More than 300 people have benefited from the free medical care provided by Rotary clubs in Ikorodu, Lagos state under the aegis of Rotary family health day programme.
The one day event took place at Ipakodo primary healthcare center Ebute Ikorodu area which was meant to fill the yawning gap in healthcare delivery particularly for people in the rural areas.
The programme attracted a sizeable crowd consisting of young, old, women, men and the elderly saw the health facility filled to its capacity.
Taofeek Kolawole, president Rotary club Ikorodu said that level of poverty has made people forget that the primary thing they need to do is to take care of their health.
“What we are trying to do here is to create more awareness and it was not surprising that Rotary is providing free medical service to the people , the club has been at the forefront in the campaign for the eradication of many diseases including polio and has been supporting immunisation over the years,”
“the government cannot be left alone to cater for the people in terms of health, that is the reason Rotary is standing for the needy, supporting the government and reaching out to the less privileged who forget to take care of their health while trying to make ends meet,” Kolawole said.
Similarly, Ojo Dare, a medical doctor said the aim of the programme was to reach people in the rural areas who might not often have access to healthcare services.
Dare who is also a Rotarian say the choice of the health centre was because of its location which according to him is easily accessible by the people.
“We have discovered that our people are still far behind in the area of preventive health care especially when it comes to using mosquito nets, dental check-up and even visual health care. So, we are not practicing good medical service for ourselves in this part of the world’.
‘Therefore, we are creating enlightenment on the one-on-one interaction with them to move away from the passive curative health practice to prevention health care which is the best. We are also admonishing them to desist from self-medication’, he said.
Among the ailments treated by the health workers such as doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists tackled who were mostly Rotarians included malaria, blood sugar level, hepatitis A&B, HIV screening, eye diseases and the provision of free eye glasses to those in need.
Commenting, one of the beneficiaries John Imelo thanked the Rotary Clubs for the medical assistance saying the organisation has a history of contributing to the development of the society.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH