Nobody wants to die. The reality of this statement played out recently at Otuokpoti, a neighbouring community to Otuoke, the hometown of President Goodluck Jonathan in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
En masse the curious and excited people of the area trooped out to partake in a free medical exercise organised for them by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The young, the old and the elderly came with deluge of health complaints. They kept a team of health experts selected by the organisers of the programme busy for the four days the humanitarian event lasted. The people especially the indigent viewed it as an opportunity to alleviate their pains and get solutions to ailments they could not afford money to deal with.
It was also an opportunity for them to know their HIV statuses. So, after registering at an area mapped out as the Outpatient Department (OPD) and checking their blood sugar level, the people moved to the HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC). Then, they besieged the Body Mass Index (BDM) department where the health experts examined their heights, hips and waists to determine cases of hypertension.
At the end, they were referred to the doctors in the consulting room who prescribed drugs for them and directed them to the pharmacy. The flow, an imitation of a typical medical clinic, was deliberately put together by the organisers to ensure proper coordination of the programme.
Speaking to Niger Delta Report, the Director of Programme and Chief Executive Officer, New Horizons Aids and Development Initiative (NHADI), Mrs Ebi Owoubiri commended the people for coming out en masse. She said a town crier went round the community to announce the benefits of participating in the exercise and to mobilise the people.
She explained that four nurses, four laboratory scientists, two pharmacist and 10 medical doctors were hired to attend to the health challenges of the people.
He said: “This free medical outreach put together by NACA and the MDGs’ office is designed to reach people with health challenges. I am impressed with the turnout because before now, we sent out town criers to go round the community and mobilise the people.
“We have established a process to enable everybody get properly checked before receiving medication. Everybody must pass through this process, you are not expected to bypass any one.”
Also, the Assistant Director Programme, Dr. Sebastine Wakdok, said NACA and the MDGs office acquired enough drugs to make the programme a success. He said medical mission was primarily designed to enable people know their HIV statuses and treat common ailments like diabetic and hypertension.
He said one local government area from each if the 36 states would benefit from the medical outreach. According to him persons with exceptional medical cases would be referred to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) for treatment.
“It is medical outreach aimed at counseling and addressing health challenges in communities. it is aimed at treating malaria, diagnosis of hypertension and referrals to appropriate health services. We are using Ogbia as the pilot local government area”, he said.
In fact, the beneficiaries of the programme could not hide their feelings. They poured encomiums on the organisers of the event. For instance, the Community Development Committee Chairman, Mr. Jackson Roman , described it as the first of its kind.
“I feel very happy because this is the first time such thing is happening in our community. I tried my best to sensitise the people through town criers. Immediately l hot a hint that they were coming”, he said.
One of the patients, Mr. Francis Arumuna, described it as the best medical exercise he had witnessed all his life.
He said: “I appreciate it. The system is commendable and I thank God that this good thing came to our village. I received free drugs. The previous ones l witnessed demanded money from us and sold their drugs to us. This is the first of its kind”.
But to one of the patients, who identified herself as Suan Okuperi said the government should sustain such interventions to help in addressing rising cases of sick people in communities.”
