BY JULIET EKWENUGO
Kaduna
Jennifer Etuh Foundation (JEF) has commenced a five-day free medical outreach in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State, targeting 3,000 residents with free medical services.
The outreach, which started on Monday and will end on Friday, is being held at the Jennifer Etuh Specialist Hospital, Mallagum-Kagoro, where residents and people from neighbouring communities are receiving free medical consultations, laboratory tests, medications, eye care, dental services and surgical procedures.
Speaking during the outreach, the Program Officer of the Foundation, Christiana Kuntin Afolayan, said more than 100 medical volunteers were participating in the exercise.
She said the volunteers were providing services across various departments, including dental care, eye care and surgery, general surgery, laboratory services and health promotion.
According to her, surgical procedures available during the outreach include hernia, fibroid and goitre surgeries, all provided free of charge.
“Everything is free in all our outreaches, from consultation to surgery and medications,” she said.
Afolayan said more than 600 people were attended to on the first day after over 1,000 people turned up, adding that the number had to be managed to avoid overwhelming the medical team.
She said some residents travelled from outside Kaura Local Government Area to access the free services after hearing about the outreach.
The Program Officer said the exercise also included health promotion activities such as the distribution of mosquito nets, infant food supplements, soap and sanitary pads, as well as sensitisation of young girls on menstrual hygiene.
She added that people with disabilities were also being catered for, noting that some beneficiaries travelled from Jos and Kogi and other locations to participate in the programme.
Meanwhile, Project Coordinator and Head of Consulting Pro-Health International, Dr. Joy Audu, said the medical team had recorded cases of hypertension, diabetes, peptic ulcer disease, infections and surgical conditions.
She said some patients were found with very high blood pressure, including readings as high as 230/100, adding that some of those affected were relatively young.
Dr. Audu said the team had also encountered patients who had been advised by unqualified persons to discontinue prescribed medications or replace them with herbal remedies.
According to her, ignorance, misinformation, difficulty in accessing prescribed medicines and the activities of unqualified healthcare providers were among the challenges affecting healthcare in rural communities.
Also, the Program Manager of JEF, Joe Otu said the organisation had been providing humanitarian healthcare services for about five years, with the aim of making quality healthcare accessible to people in hard-to-reach communities.
Otu said the foundation had established medical facilities in underserved locations across six geopolitical zones and also organised outreaches in communities where it did not have permanent hospitals.
He said the foundation had carried out close to 40,000 medical interventions involving almost 15,000 people, adding that its programmes were designed to reach people who might otherwise be unable to afford healthcare.
According to him, the foundation’s medical facilities were deliberately located in underserved communities rather than major cities to bring healthcare closer to people in need.
He said the hospitals remained open and accessible to residents, but that community sensitisation was necessary because some people often delayed seeking medical attention until their conditions became severe.
Otu said the Foundation was founded in honour of the late Mrs Jennifer Ramatu Etuh, a philanthropist who was passionate about empowering women and serving communities.
He said the foundation was established to continue her legacy of community service and commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable people.
Otu added that although women, girls and young children remained the foundation’s focal beneficiaries, its medical outreaches were open to everyone in need of healthcare.
One of the beneficiaries, Muntuah Joseph, who underwent eye surgery during the outreach, expressed appreciation to the Jennifer Etuh Foundation, saying the free procedure had saved him more than N150,000 in medical expenses.
