The Senate President Ahmed Ibrahim Lawal has launched a medical Outreach in his Senatorial District, in Yobe North for 2020 at the weekend.
A statement from his Special Adviser (Media), Ola Awoniyi, in Abuja, disclossed that the event was held at the General Hospital, Gashua and Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Nguru, all in Yobe State.
Free Eye care and surgery, free gynaecological check-up and procedures are part of the medical services rendered.
The annual event, funded by Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawal Foundation Medical Outreach, began in 2018 with an initial emphasis on eye-related medical conditions, but the scope of care and the number of beneficiaries have now been expanded.
About 5,000 patients with eye-related cases are expected to receive care for this year alone and the gesture will also help more than 6,000 patients with asthma, diabetes and the like.
Lawal has this to say:
“This medical outreach is in keeping with what we believe is an important and necessary intervention for our people who need either the surgeries or the general treatment to recover their sight or improve their sight.“We started this in 2018 because we noticed that people had those challenges at that time and yet the majority of them didn’t have the means to receive any medical attention.
“Since I could afford it, I thought it was my duty to provide means of some intervention. So we initiated this programme in 2018.
“In 2019, in addition to eye surgeries, we introduced hydrocele and we increased the number last year. This year we introduced more areas of intervention and also increased the number of patients or beneficiaries.“We believe this is a worthwhile venture that will improve people’s lives. This intervention means a lot, makes a lot of difference in the lives of many. We are doing it to complement the efforts of the Yobe State Government.
“The government has been doing well in this area, but we believe we have some areas that we can also bring in our intervention to support the state government
“I think we are doing the right thing and I believe that next year, by God’s grace, we will do more if we see more people who need our intervention.”
