A Non Governmental Organization (NGO), Teen Ambassadors Foundation (TAF) held a free medical outreach for residents of Luvu Madaki communities and environs in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State at the weekend.
The medical intervention which took place at DEMDAP Friendship Centre, Teen Ambassadors Road, Luvu Madaki on offered screening and treatment for malaria, typhoid, peptic ulcer, urinary tract infections, hypertension, diabetes, skin diseases, Hepatitis B and C infections as well as pelvic inflammatory diseases.
Paul Adiwu, TAF director general/chief executive officer said the gesture was borne out of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the NGO.
While disclosing the intention of the NGO to be holding the medical outreach quarterly, Adiwu said the intervention was not for any particular class of people but for residents of Luvu Madaki and its environs who got notice of the intervention.
He said: “We know the times we are living in now and sometimes basically we reach out to people, trying to provide food and other items that can sustain them, but we found out that even with the food some people cannot eat because of their health challenges and we felt it is good we come up with this initiative to have people tested for them to know what is happening to them and administer appropriate medication and that is why we cam with a team of medical experts to help us in that regard.
“I am from Plateau State, but if you are running an NGO it is not meant just for your people where you come from. It is supposed to be for the whole nation or globally. So we chose this place because this is our office and to tell the whole world that we are doing this as a calling. Not that we are expecting anything in return.
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“In terms of the medical outreach, this is the first time we are starting this. We run other programmes, but for the medical outreach this is the first time we are introducing it and God helping us, it is something we want to sustain quarterly.
“The reason why we are sure of sustaining it is that this is something that is from our little savings and with support from a few spirited individuals. We are not relying on the international community or other development partners to fund this. That is why we are sure we can sustain it, because we can only do with what we have. We deal with what we have.
“We want to call on other NGOs to try as much as possible to limit their programmes to what they can afford because a lot of NGOs are folding up or cannot sustain their programmes because they are depending on international development partners and that is why sometimes they start a programme they cannot sustain. So we have to learn to make do with what we have.
“We sent out notices to the residents of this community and other adjoining communities. It was not for a class of people. So everybody that was able to get notification because it was announced on different fora and people coming from communities in this vicinity. So it was not meant for a particular set of people. We estimated 700 people based on the medication and the testing kits and all the facilities we came here with.”
Some of the beneficiaries who expressed gratitude to the Foundation for the gesture, said it would go a long way in improving the well-being of the people, health-wise, and called on other organisations to emulate the gesture.
