PSN-Kwara Offers Free Medical Care, Drugs To Over 400 Indigents At Fufu

 

 

By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Kwara State Chapter has offered free medical care and drugs to over 400 indigents in Fufu, Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara.

Speaking on the sidelines of the free medical healthcare on Tuesday, Mr Adejuwon Otelaja, the PSN-Kwara Chairman explained that this is part of the activities for 2023 Pharmacy week.

He explained further that the medical outreach at Fufu, a small agrarian village consisting largely of farmers and herders includes checking for Blood pressure and random blood sugar test.

He observed that during health intervention, members recorded high blood pressure,  which is common among people both male and female from age 40 years and above.

“Majority of the villagers are aware they have high blood pressure but they are not regular on medications.

“Some attributed their poor adherence to medication to economic reasons while some were wrongly informed to stop the medication after achieving control.

“Many of them do not know the dangers of uncontrolled Blood pressure and some of the villagers have sight defects which the outreach could not cater for,” he said.

Otelaja pointed out that other challenges these communities face are inadequate health education, especially on the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

“Although the community is small with low-income level, a pharmacy in the community could help bridge the gap in healthcare, especially in the availability of essential drugs,” he said

The PSN chairman urged the government to improve the health facility by providing quality health personnel with the capacity to manage this range of health concerns adequately.

He also advocated public enlightenment on non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes and the provision of health insurance too,  which he said, will go a long way to improve the health of the community.

Otelaja also lamented the poor road network in the community, adding that repair of the access road will encourage well-meaning groups to do more outreach to the village.

He appealed to stakeholders to also reach out to the community on medical outreach that will focus on eye care which will be of immense benefit to the community.

Also speaking, Dr Grace Medubi, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services,
University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, (UITH) said the society observed that the Community have a shortage of health facilities and health personnel, while their Primary Health Care (PHC) centre is non-functional.

According to her, the community lacks access to basic health and medical services in the rural area.

She said the medical outreach is an effort by PSN to fill in the gap in the medical services for the residents of this community to prioritize their health.

Medubi stated that the PSN will look at ways of further improving the health of these communities by helping them to establish Rural Pharmacy premises.

“PSN hope to reach out to appropriate authority to rehabilitate and restore the Primary Health Care facilities in the communities.

“All these will go a long way in closing the gap including, lack of health personnel, non-availability of essential drugs, health promotion and health education,” she said.

Mrs Munirat Bello, the Secretary of PSN-Kwara explained that Pharmacy Week is an Annual event to showcase how society impacts the Nigerian community.

She said it is the tradition that “we reach out to communities, especially those who hardly access healthcare in the suburbs, hence Fufu”.

The PSN Secretary added that over 400 people including children, adults and elderly people were attended to and received free drugs. Forever their various ailments.

Dr Joseph Ole, the Deputy Director of Pharmacy UITH described some of the common diseases including uncontrolled blood pressure, stomach ulcer, malaria, cough, urinary tract infection, diabetes mellitus and arthritis. (NAN)

 

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