Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti 

A non-governmental organisation, Jennifer Etuh Foundation, has offered free medical outreach in Ekiti State in its bid to eradicate out-of-pocket healthcare in the state.

The outreach, which lasted for five days, was held in Ode-Ekiti General Hospital, Gbonyin Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking with journalists, the Programme Officer of the foundation, Etimbuk Adebayo Chike, said the main purpose of the outreach was to complement the efforts of the state government in eradicating out-of-pocket healthcare service delivery in the state.

She added that the outreach covered services such as medical consultation, general and specialised surgeries, ophthalmology, dental care, medications, health promotions, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and aboratory, among others, with the aim of capturing over 3,000 residents.

Adebayo stressed that the foundation has also helped in curbing brain drain syndrome by making sure professional health experts volunteer in the project for the betterment of Ekiti people.

“The medical outreaches started with us wanting to do medical outreaches while commissioning our hospitals across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

“We commissioned our first hospital in 2022 at Kogi State and then Kaduna State. So in 2023, we commissioned the one in Osun State. When we commissioned it, we decided to do an outreach.

 “We saw how excited people were and that was the time where the brain drain in Nigeria started where doctors were leaving but we’re able to mitigate that.

“People were crying because they had never seen that. So it also touched us and then we decided to do it again.

“So, for us, it’s rewarding. It can be stressful; sincerely and we are doing this in collaboration with ProHealth International,” she said.

On her part, the team lead of Pro Health International, Dr Tola Bamsa, said their organisation partnered with the foundation as a result of their replica vision, which is to provide aid and render help to the less privileged.

“ProHealth International is an organization that provides quality and quantitative medical care and hope to the less privileged with the love of Christ at no cost to the recipients.

“The reason why we are partnering with Jennifer Etuh Foundation is because they have the vision that is very similar to ProHealth, that is, to provide aid or help to the less privileged and the poor.

“They have sponsored this programme and ProHealth has facilitated a five-day free health care outreach to Ekiti State by providing volunteers in different medical fields,” Bamsa said.

A beneficiary, Oluwalade Wuraola, commended the foundation for its efforts, saying the intervention has changed her life tremendously.

Oluropo Ogundoro also hailed the foundation for bringing the outreach to their doorsteps, adding that it had bridged the gap that the government was not able to fill.

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