Keeping COVID-19 at bay in the Camp

To help cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has inaugurated some health facilities within the camp. The old Redeemers’ Clinic was upgraded to a Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). BUKOLA OLAJIDE reports

The Coronavirus disease that broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the twilight of last year took the world by surprise.

Just as the world seemed to have become less terrified by deadly epidemics as the aftermath of viruses such as HIV/AIDS and Ebola that have been ravaging humanity for some time now, it has, of late, been thrown off balance by a new and equally deadly one which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared as a pandemic. It also described it as a severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) while the disease associated with it is referred to as COVID-19. It is a type of common virus that infects humans, typically leading to an upper respiratory infection.

As at November 4, 48, 103, 952 people have been infected and 1, 224, 014 have died as a result of the disease while 34, 500, 140 were fortunate enough to recover from the attack in various countries despite precautionary measures put in place by all countries that have activated their health and security apparatuses.

Though the world is making some frantic efforts to curtail further spread and deaths, some individuals, corporate organisations and faith-based groups have put measures in place toward helping in curtailing the spread of the virus or cushioning its effects.

As world health authorities have revealed that the virus could take its complete course, an indication that the pandemic may not go away as soon as we expect and pray, it means that individuals should be more cautious in their lifestyle and even embrace superior personal hygiene principles in the face of the outbreak and beyond.

The outbreak of the disease necessitated a global lockdown, which crippled businesses and many people’s daily routines. Many people could not get adequate health care as hospitals were also shut down. But, three years before the Coronavirus broke out in Nigeria, Pastor Abayomi J. Kayode, a public health physician and researcher, who was the first resident medical doctor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Camp, intimated the leadership of the mission on the need to focus on the health care system.

With the support of the General Overseer, his wife and some volunteer medical personnel, the church launched its mega health centre and three pharmacies.

In the yesteryear, Christians took pride in divine health and as such frowned at any form of medical treatment or cringed at the mention of the word ‘hospital’. However, at the launch of the Redeemer’s Health Centre in 2010, Pastor E.A. Adeboye emphasised that “RCCG’s health policy is divine health and even though some people say the hospital is for sinners, we will put structures in place for the sinner to hear the gospel while getting medical treatment.”

This informed the decision to develop the health facilities in the camp that brought about the refurbishment of the old Redeemers’ Clinic to become the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).

Dr. Kayode, a Fellow of the National Post-graduate College of Medicine, Nigeria said: “If this place is becoming the fastest growing privately-owned community in the world, we need to prepare for that growth. From research, this is the only place in Nigeria with 24-hour electricity and water supply and a place you can come out at midnight without fear. The influx of people into the camp has necessitated the need to upgrade our health care system.”

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention was established to reduce the rate of diseases and medical cases to be treated at the health centre. It has various units that will serve the community on health education, environmental sanitation, nutrition, family planning, baby clinic to monitor the growth of babies and laboratory to diagnose rare diseases.

In the future, isolation centres, centre for infectious diseases and facilities for COVID-19 testing will also be erected in the camp. All these will help to prevent an outbreak of diseases or enhance their control should they occur.

Interestingly, discussions are on with researchers and professors of public health who have pledged allegiance to discharge their duties voluntarily but wholeheartedly apart from those employed as full-time members of medical staff.

On other arms of the health system, Kayode, a member of West African College of Physician in Public Health said: “Having obeyed the call into ministry in 2007, my expertise has contributed to the establishment of pharmacies and the upgrade of the fully-kitted maternity centre in the camp and this is open to all races, religions and ethnic groups.”

To cushion the effect of COVID-19 in the area of food scarcity, the church, under the non-profit initiative of the wife of the General Overseer, “Friends of Jesus” distributed palliatives (foodstuffs) to the needy within the Camp and its environs. This initiative that began three years ago was borne out of the fact that the camp has become a place of refuge for hundreds of homeless people, a fifth of them being children.

A lot of these people are unemployed and depressed; many of them (especially the females) fled abusive relationships with no relatives to take them in. The RCCG Friends of Jesus’ vision was borne out of the need to help this category of people find their feet again. A team of professionals work on a pro-bono basis to drive the organisation.

The church is strategising on different ways to better the lot of humanity and with the newly refurbished facility which has gulped over N80 million, there is still, a lot to be done.

“The church wants health care to be accessible to everyone, where they live and work, at an affordable price. This is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the community, its environs and the nation at large and it is purely funded by the mission because what is generated from an individual’s treatment is just a little percentage of the total funds used in running the health care system,” Kayode said.