Excitement as elderly, children, women get free medical services in Agege

The joy of residents of Agege, an old community in Lagos State, knew no bound last Saturday when a non-governmental organization based in the community, Agege Noble, took free healthcare services to their doorsteps. The free medical screening exercise is an annual event organized by Agege Noble to cover ailments like blood pressure test, sugar […]

The joy of residents of Agege, an old community in Lagos State, knew no bound last Saturday when a non-governmental organization based in the community, Agege Noble, took free healthcare services to their doorsteps.

The free medical screening exercise is an annual event organized by Agege Noble to cover ailments like blood pressure test, sugar level test, optical services, dental examination and general medical advice.

As early as 8am, the young and elderly men and women in the community had come out in their hundreds to partake of the medical exercise, which they described as timely in view of the prevailing economic hardship in the country, which makes it pretty expensive for most of them to seek healthcare in medical facilities.

One of the beneficiaries, 70-year-old Florence Ezekiel, expressed joy over the gesture saying, “I am glad because I know how much it will cost me to carry out all the tests I had undergone today if I had gone to a hospital. But here we are enjoying the services free of charge right in our community.”

Another beneficiary, 30-year-old Salilat Musa, also told our correspondent, “My son, Jafar, has a problem with his teeth but he has been checked and given drugs. We were advised not to remove the decayed tooth now because he is too young. But he was advised to reduce the intake of sweets and other things that contain too much sugar. He was also advised to always gaggle his mouth with warm water and salt.”

Sixty seven-year-old Ahmadu Mohammed, who came to the screening complaining of pains in his legs and back, said he was thoroughly checked and given some drugs.

The Secretary of Agege Noble, Lawal Ismail, said that the latest medical screening exercise marked the fifth edition the organisation held for the Agege community.

Ismail noted that more than 400 residents registered for the screening, which he described as a gift to the community that raised them.

“We felt the need to give back to the society where we grew up, and organised the free health services to cut across all ages. Before now, we would go into houses calling people out for this exercise, but now the people themselves look forward to this day. Our target is usually 500 persons per year but we hope to reach 1,000 next year. So far, we have reached over 2,000 in five years.

“Today, we have medical practitioners from the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Idi Araba, and also from some hospitals in Agege who are partnering with us to give their free expertise. Some medical homes also donated drugs to the exercise that we gave out freely,” he said.

The chairman of the organisation, Hassan Tella, said Agege Noble was founded by Agege indigenes basically as a community-based organization to render pay-back service to the area. “We don’t believe in what the community should do for us. Rather, we believe we should render service to the community,” he said. In addition to the annual medical programme, Tella disclosed that the group also engages in sanitation exercise.

Agege is the base of the deadly cult group, Awawa, whose members are always raping teenagers and women, burgling shops and robbing homes while armed with guns and other dangerous weapons. Commenting on activities of the Awawa boys and other cult groups in the area, Tella

noted that Agege Noble occasionally organizes seminars for the youths to discourage them from the use of drugs, and to shun violence. “We also go to schools to talk to students on the need for them to jettison drugs and study hard to become useful members of the society,” he said.

He tasked government on the provision of potable water for the people of Agege, saying, “water is essential to enable them keep their environments clean.”