Some communities in Rivers State have been slated for a five-day medical intervention scheme that would alleviate the rural poor of basic ailments and improve their productivity.
This is coming from a philanthropic organisation, WeCare Missions, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, that has concluded arrangements to storm two towns in Rivers State beginning April 15, 2013, in a five-day medical mission expected to extend world-class medical attention to Africa’s underprivileged segments.
The group, led by Indianapolis-based Nigerian pharmacologist, Fatima Yakubu-Madus, will bring some US volunteers to team up with volunteers in Nigeria to attend to medical emergencies in two locations in Rivers State, Saint Stephens Cathedral Church and Bonny Hospital.
WeCare Missions’ healthcare team provides screening and eye surgeries for cataract as well as diagnosis and treatment for malaria, diabetes, and hypertension, the ‘silent killer’ of both poor and rich.
The choice of Rivers State is said to be to move the free medical intervention round to new areas. This outreach complements the efforts of the Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi administration that is aggressively pursuing free healthcare drive especially for the young, aged and those in emergency in Rivers State. The state government’s efforts have attracted quite a few local and foreign commendations especially for the construction of 120 so far out of the proposed 160 world-class healthcare centres around the state.
Yakubu-Madus told BusinessDay that her team had already packed and shipped most of the medication and supplies needed in the medical intervention in Nigeria. The 2013 outreach on-site coordinator is Awoere Teme.
It was gathered that WeCare Missions’ volunteers have attended to more than 12,000 patients since 2008 during yearly medical missions that not only provided consultation but also surgical interventions especially in cases of cataract, general ailments, obstetrics and gynecology.
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
