When US-based group gave Oyo people medical services

Members of the medical team at work during the outreach programme.

INHABITANTS of Akinyele and Lagelu local government areas of Oyo State were recently joined by their neighbours from communities surrounding Eniosa, in Lagelu Local Government Area, such as Olorunda-Aba, Aroro, Ojoo, Orita Merin and Arulogun to converge on the Chief N. O. Idowu Comprehensive Health Centre, Eniosa, for the 2017 Annual Ibadan Medical Outreach of a United States-based non-governmental organisation, the Gifted Hands Foundation.

The three-day programme was kicked off with the dispensation of free services to the beneficiaries by members of a medical team from the United States, together with experts from the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. The services covered treatments of typhoid fever, high blood pressure, malaria fever and several other ailments.

The brains behind the outreach, Mr Wale Ishola, said the need to give back to the society informed the decision to embark upon the medical exercise. He said the government could not be left alone to shoulder the responsibility of the welfare of the people, hence the need to lend a hand. He reiterated the commitment of “Gifted Hands” to partnering with the UCH, Ibadan, on a yearly basis to bring medical succour to the underprivileged. He said his sojourn in the United States of America in the last 21 years assisted him in designing programmes that would alleviate the sufferings of the underprivileged.

The second day saw the medical experts from UCH deliver lectures on how to access quality healthcare. It was a gathering of who is who in the medical world at the auditorium of the College of Medicine, UCH, Ibadan. Topics bordering on life-threatening diseases were exhaustively discussed. The medical team later paid homage to the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, at his Popoyemoja palace at the heart of the city. The team was received by the traditional ruler with his wives and members of the Olubadan-in-Council.

In his remark during the reception, Oba Adetunji commended Mr Ishola for having the love of his fatherland at heart. He then called on other sons and daughters of Ibadanland in the Diaspora to emulate take a leaf from Dr Ishola and his Gifted Hands initiative and come home to impact the society that made them.

Responding, Mr Ishola thanked the Olubadan, his wives and members of the council for the warm reception accorded the team. He said he was spurred to action by the plight of the underprivileged. He assured Oba Adetunji that the medical exercise would continue to hold yearly.