The fourth edition of the BOSKOH Free Medical Outreach, tagged ‘Jigi-Bola Relaunch Phase II’, is targeted to reach over 250,000 Lagosians in eight local governments, eight markets and eight police barracks.
It is the fourth edition since the relaunch of JigiBola, a state government initiative to prevent blindness and correct visual dysfunction, in 2019.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the impact recorded during the introduction and joy of beneficiaries attested to the relevance of Jigi Bola “and justifies our decision to keep it on after the initial relaunch in 2019.”
Sanwo-Olu, represented by Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, said: “Through the BOSKHO Health Mission International, this administration has continued to lead the frontiers in delivering good health care as we took the bull by the horns, adding diagnosis for hearing-impairments and the provision of hearing-aids.
“Considering the status of Lagos as a megacity, and our ever increasing population, the BOSKOH Health Mission Initiative targeted and identified 250,000 residents in need of visual and hearing aids at the third edition of the Jigi-Bola re-launch and BOSKOH Health Mission Initiative last year.
“In this fourth edition, BOSKOH Health Mission Initiative has made enough provision to carry out routine screening exercise on residents across the 20 local governments and the 37 local council Development areas (LCDAs).
“Prior to Jigi-Bola’s relaunch last year, BOSKOH, in February 2019, organised medical outreach for 20,000 residents, and in August 2019, the group partnered the state to launch the ‘Healthy Bee Project’, with 200,000 Lagosians benefiting from the outreach, and 85 successful cataract surgeries conducted in five days.
“Today’s kick off of the fourth edition is another laudable step in the right direction, as it is aimed at improving and strengthening the state’s capacity for efficient eye and ear care delivery at the grassroots, and to ensure Lagosians do not lose their vision and hearing organs when these could have been prevented.”
Sanwo-Olu urged the people to partake in the initiative, stressing that “the government is committed to putting smiles on the faces of the great people of Lagos, and we will continue to advance the well-being of residents as enshrined in the T.H.E.M.E.S. Agenda, being the pillar upon which our mandate of a greater Lagos for the good people of Lagos is hinged.”
The governor’s wife, Mrs. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, urged the people at the grassroots to take advantage of the initiative to improve their health.
She described it as another “progressive move towards the sustainability of one of the most successful initiatives of the state government, which has facilitated unprecedented impact, especially at the grassroots.”
She said the programme was a continuation of a legacy that would help reduce visual and hearing impairment to the barest.