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By Nkasi Okolie- Oji
It was joy all through in Ubulu-Uku Community, Aniocha-South Local Government Area (LGA)as a non-governmental organisation Ubulu-Uku Community Outreach, (UUCO), gave free medical tests and treatment to hundreds of residents of the community.
The event which was on December 27, 2023, had large turnout,but the medical team was able to control the crowd and attended to those who needed medical attentions.
Those suffering from illnesses such as malaria, typhoid, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and other ailments were among people that benefited from the medical outreach, as persons with eye and ear defects were provided corrective lenses and hearing aids respectively.
Speaking during the one-day medical outreach held at Ubulu-Uku Primary School, Co-convener of the NGO, Mrs. Judith Ogunleye Ofulue
said the gesture was aimed at catering for the medical needs of the rural residents who had little or no access to quality medical care.
She disclosed that her Co-convener, Mrs Maureen Kupoluyi started the outreach in 2020 as a result of the challenges they faced while growing up in the community due to lack of access to basic health care.
“This is our third edition, having started this medical outreach three years ago. During the 2022 outreach, we attended to over 3,000 people, and we gave out over 600 hearing aids “, she said.
She said situations beyond capacity of the medical team would be referred to the Federal Medical Center, Asaba, urging well meaning Nigerians to be involved in giving back to the rural communities.
Speaking with newsnen during the exercise, Co-Convener, Maureen Kupoluyi said that outreach is targeted at the physically challenged and the less privileged who do not have the finances to access quality healthcare.
She said she had seen people die due to their inability to afford treatment, saying “We grew up in this place and we know the difficulties we encountered as a children; since God has helped us through people, we decided to give back to our community.
“Let us try to let love rule us, let love help us to reach out to people. All of us in Nigeria know the difficulties facing the people; particularly in the suburbs and the rural communities. If we have that love at heart, it is a good thing to share when you have enough.
“Let those who have the capacity to do things for the needy be involved in giving back to our immediate communities. By doing this, we would be able to reach out to so many people but when you have limited people doing this, it will still be a challenge. If we have people that are doing it in groups or individually will go a long way to help people” she said.
However, the community was so happy that they poured encomiums on the NGO.
One of the residents, Uju Momah,said,” For our daughter, Judith, she has to tow our line,because the blood runs in our lineage. Judith is from our lineage, so I am not disappointed that she is among the people that brought succour to our community. She does not stay in the country, yet, she feels the pulse of our people who are going through on economic or health challenge or the other. She decided to come back home to work in company of her partner to bring urgent help to her people.I thank the NGO for the good jobs they have started and implore them to do more and to make it a yearly exercise”.
One of the beneficiaries, Grace Ojeogwu who was highly elated,said,” I didn’t believe my eyes with what I witnessed .I had been treating Malaria and Typhoid for over six months, not knowing that I am just suffering from High sugar level. I was diagnosed of the disease. They gave me some drugs free of charge and still advised me on my diet. If this is all they did for me,I am so grateful.Now I know my problems. May God bless them abundantly”.
