Onyejeocha Sustains Free Medical Outreach for 17 Years, Says Good Health Paramount
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha has urged well-to-do Nigerians to assist government in making healthcare services available to the underprivileged ones.
She made the call in a chat with newsmen during her 2024 Free Medical and Surgery Outreach held at the Nkeiruka Onyejeocha Medical Centre, Amuda-Umuaku Road, Umunneochi Local Government Area.
The four-day medical outreach which ended at the weekend involved no fewer than 40 medical professionals, including general and paediatric surgeons, medical officers, anaesthetic doctors, eye doctors and nurses, among others.
Together, the health professionals attended to sundry health issues of hundreds of people, performed eye surgeries and hernia operations on patients as young as four years.
The minister said the health condition of the masses should be prioritised above everything else, adding that attending to people’s welfare does not stop with provision of food items and building of roads.
She noted that due to lack of resources, most Nigerians have gotten used to taking the condition of their health for granted with the belief that God will always care for and protect them.
According to her, with the mindset that “God dey and nothing will happen,” people care less about their health, and rarely go for medical checkups hence the need for interventions by people of means to bring healthcare services to the people.
The former federal lawmaker noted that the annual medical outreach which she has kept running for 17 years now is her own way of contributing to the healthcare needs of the people in her constituency and even people from neighbouring states.
“This is the kind of thing that makes me happy, not the position I occupy,” she said, adding that the annual medical outreach “is one of the covenants I have with God” for the privilege given to her.
Onyejeocha stated that she was determined to sustain her annual medical outreach for as long as it takes because “I’m knowledgeable enough to know that healtth is wealth”.
She said that she incurred a loss of over N7 million when her Health Centre was vandalised by hoodlums, who carted away medical equipment, air conditioners and even electric cables.
Nonetheless, the former four-term representative of Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency, vowed that she would not be discouraged from doing good to people because “naturally, I’m somebody that has compassion for people”.
Team Lead of the medical outreach, Dr Humble Chimaobi Evuchaiwe, told journalists that the turnout of patients was overwhelming as it provided people the opportunity to access free medical services which they could not afford on their own.
He lauded Hon. Onyejeocha for her efforts to bring healthcare to the underprivileged, especially at the present harsh economic condition of the nation where people could hardly afford to eat, much more paying for medical bills.
Dr. Evuchaiwe who has been part of the Onyejeocha medical outreach for years, noted that on the average no fewer than 600 medical patients, (surgeries not inclusive) were treated in every outreach.
“I’ve not seen any politician doing this kind of medical outreach on this magnitude,” he said, adding that National Assembly members, ministers, and philanthropists should emulate the labour minister in giving people access to healthcare services.
“If they can take 600 medical cases in their constituencies, preventable diseases would be greatly mitigated,” Evuchaiwe said.
