About 5,000 less-privileged persons in Ondo State have benefitted from a free medical outreach service organised by a group known as Otunba Yomi Akingbade Foundation.
The free medical outreach targeted both young and old; women and men. The services include checking of blood pressure level, health education on chronic and preventive diseases, free medical check-up, free distribution of basic medications, healthy eating and health living, dementia and memory loss awareness, hypertension, cholera, diabetes and distribution of free drugs.
Yomi Akingbade, the organiser of the free medical outreach, while speaking with journalists during the event in Akure said the main purpose for the outreach was to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal on the people.
According to him, the gesture also became necessary considering the current economic situation in the Nigeria.
Akingbade said; “The main purpose for the outreach is to touch lives by providing basic health education for patients to take control of their health and to offer free healthcare consultation services with free medicines to those who cannot afford routine general medical check-ups or treatment.
“I did this for my people because I grew up in this town and the community has helped me a lot in this environment and this is the best time for me to give back to my community.
“I have a call to reach out to the underprivileged around me, which is why we are holding this medical outreach for our people.
“We decided to bring healthcare services closer to the people at no cost at all because it is a known fact that access to medicare is a big challenge in Nigeria.
“A lot of people with one underlying ailment or the other are dying in silence because they cannot afford the hospital bills.
“We all know that health is wealth, and about 5000 people are benefitting from the free medical outreach. As a matter of fact, we need to improve on our health sector, we should all be able to have access to quality healthcare in this country.
“I pray that we should have a good governance so that our health sector can be improved. I have spent almost N50million and I didn’t do this for any political motive, I want to give back to my community and less-privileged people and we will be doing it quarterly for us to be helping people medically and others.”
Akingbade, however, urged wealthy individuals to reach out to the underprivileged around them to reduce the level of poverty in the country.
Some of the beneficiaries, who expressed joy over the kind gesture, thanked the Foundation for availing them the free opportunity to know their health status without going to hospital.
Yemisi Adeyeye, a 67-year-old woman, commended the Foundation for the outreach and appealed to government to conduct similar medical outreaches in the rural communities of the state.
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