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Rep treats 2,758 patients free in Enugu

By Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka
16 November 2021   |   2:57 am
About 2,758 persons with various health challenges from Awgu, Aninri and Oji River local councils in Enugu State, at the weekend, benefitted from the free medical outreach by the member

[FILES] Enugu. Photo/YOUTUBE

About 2,758 persons with various health challenges from Awgu, Aninri and Oji River local councils in Enugu State, at the weekend, benefitted from the free medical outreach by the member representing Awgu/Aninri/Oji River federal constituency, Toby Okechukwu.

A team of medical experts, Doctors on the Move Africa, handled the three-day outreach. It afforded the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) the opportunity to test its outpost in the community.

Being the fourth in the medical interventions of the lawmaker in the last seven years, it offered eye treatment and surgeries, gynaecological services, hernia, appendicitis among others.

The outreach had earlier taken place at the Achi Joint Hospital, Oji River; Cottage Hospital, Nenwe; and Awgu General Hospital to ensure spread and impact.

Okechukwu said while flagging off the excise, that he decided to make it a yearly event based on his conviction that healthy people are wealthy people.

His words: “There are some interventions needed to help those in the rural communities, who may have health challenges but do not have funds to solve their health problems. That is how we came about intervening yearly in the health of our people.

“It is also an effort to complement what the state government is doing regarding healthcare. It is deliberately meant for rural communities. This has been done in other communities of this constituency. Today, we are here at Ugbo and UNTH health workers are going to test this facility, as they have got an outpost for this area and for rural communities.”

On his expectations for the UNTH outpost, Okechukwu disclosed: “Our expectation is that it will be properly equipped as a hospital; so that instead of going to UNTH in town, our people can come here, see medical doctors, pharmacists and nurses for adequate healthcare. This is essentially an intervention, and we will continue to do this yearly.”

Team leader of Doctors on the move Africa, Dr. Joseph Kigbu, said they had worked with the lawmaker in the past seven years to bring healthcare to his constituency.

“We have given out free spectacles for those who have eye problems requiring eyeglasses, and helped those with bigger eye problems such as glaucoma. We have also performed several surgeries in the past three days for people with health issues such as appendicitis and fibroid. All these are being done by our specialists.

“We have a network. As you can see, we have a few doctors from UNTH working with us. So, if we have post-operative patients, these doctors will look after them and look out for minor ailments that may arise. They could also remove their stitches by the seventh or eighth day, as the case may be. So there shouldn’t be any problem on that aspect,” he said

He encouraged the patients to continuously come for medical checkups.

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