SDGs Flag-off Free Medical Outreach in Bayelsa

… As End Users Flaw Equipment

By Amos Okioma, Yenagoa 

The Sustainable Development Goals in partnership with the federal, state and local government areas have flagged off a free medical outreach at Amasoma, in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.

While declaring the ceremony open, the permanent secretary, ministry of Health, Dr. Nathaniel Apoku, who reiterated the essence of the medical outreach, said it was an opportunity for the people to assess free and quality drugs as well other medical services as doctors were mobilized to attend to eye problems, diabetes, surgery and other ailments.

“During the exercise free medical services not only provided, but wheel chairs and corrective eye glass were distributed free of charge”

He described the event as robust, noting that the drugs dispensed were qualitative, free and caters to the peculiar needs of the community.

Also, the director, Medical services at the Bayelsa State Ministry of Health, Dr. Amaitari Dinyain, said the outreach was intended for the people of Amassoma and its environs, and for them to appreciate that government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of providing the health care needs of the community.

He appealed to other corporate bodies and good-spirited individuals to emulate the gesture of the Sustainable Development Goals. “To assess health care is costly, not easy. Coupled with the Bayelsa Health Insurance Scheme already in place, the free medical outreach will afford beneficiaries assess to free and quality drugs,” he said.

He further applauded the fact that the free medical outreach was well attended.

The desk officer, Sustainable Development Goals in South – South, Dr Kanayo Victor, whose office evaluated the proposals in line with SDGs needs, as enshrined in Goal five, which is education and health care, said “the end users expressed appreciation for the gesture, even though there were pockets of complaints on the quality of the wheel chairs for the disabled.”

Meanwhile, the acting chairman of the National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Bayelsa State chapter, Comrade Ikilowei Eric, has applauded the SDGs, but expressed anger over the quality of the wheel chairs, noting that that which most of them came with, and had used for years, were of higher quality.

He further said that what they received will not last for more than a year, adding that “As you can see, these wheel chairs will not last for more than one year.”

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