Takwa Bay residents seek urgent health intervention

Residents of Takwa Bay community, an island in Lagos State, have called for an urgent medical intervention from government and private organisations to boost quality health and reduce the mortality rate. Although there are two medical centres in the community, residents said personnel are usually not available or don’t even have the needed drugs to cater to the community.
   
One of the residents, Adeniyi Elisabeth, said: “We have a gigantic building called a hospital or clinic, but if you go there, no one is there to attend to you. Sometimes when you take your kids there during an emergency, there are no drugs, not even paracetamol.”

Elisabeth made this known during a medical outreach to Takwa Bay by the Jewels Ladies Foundation. She added that there were times medical attendants close as early as 2:00 p.m. and won’t attend to anyone after then.

“In a way, we are dying on this island because we lack proper medical attention. I believe health issues should be paramount. We should at least constantly have a doctor or nurse in the hospital. We have resorted to using a chemist in the community,” she added.
   
Lauding efforts of the foundation, Elisabeth said tests were carried out and drugs were given without payment. Another resident that simply identified himself as Prophet Jeremiah said: “We want the government and private medical teams to always check on us because the weather condition here is not favourable for children and fever is a common ailment.
   
Founder, Jewels Ladies Foundation, Ihotu Eritosin-Gregory, decried the neglect of the community and residents inadequate access to quality healthcare. “We discovered this since we began our outreach here two years ago. There is only one General Hospital in the community. We started mentoring girls and the medical outreach gave us the opportunity to reach the families of our mentees,” she added.

Founder, Jewels Ladies Foundation, Ihotu Eritosin-Gregory, decried that the community has health concerns and very low purchasing power to even pay for quality health care services.

“We discovered this since we began our outreach here two years ago. There is only one General Hospital in the community. We started mentoring girls and the medical outreach gave us the opportunity to reach the families of our mentees,” she added.

Eritosin-Gregory charged the government to foster and support rural development for economic growth and social welfare.

She added that the community has opportunities to generate its own economy when provided with the necessary social amenities.

“With the water and beach at Takwa Bay, it could serve as a leisure island for vacations and sightseeing. We can even start by ensuring that there is a constant power supply. A few non-profits have begun a good work in this community and further collaborations would ensure sustainable impact,” she added.

Eritosin-Gregory stressed that the Jewels Ladies foundation (Jewel Networks) is set to enhance women by providing viable opportunities and support. “The goal is to achieve a world positively influenced by women who stand together and we focus our project in that line,” she added.

On his own part, one of the doctors at the outreach, Dr Adebayo Akin, noted that “Takwa Bay community is lagging behind medically. We observed that about six of the people we attended to have Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) and are not aware of. We urged the government to think of them, and provide medical practitioners and necessary facilities to meet their needs,” he added.

Adding that the turnout was great, one of the Project Coordinator, Jewels Network, Joy Nwachukwu, said: “We have reached over 120 people already but we the community hope this outreach continues. We intend to follow up on their health and ensure that the monitoring doesn’t end here.”