BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has flagged off the second edition of Imole Medical and Surgical Outreach which is part of his administration’s efforts at cushioning the economic burden the people of the state and also alleviating their medical challenges.
Adeleke said in Ilesa where the health programme was flagged off that the first phase of the outreach held between February and April 2023 catered for about 22,000 citizens of our state who benefited from surgeries, eye and medical care.
He said, “We believe in a philosophy that it takes a healthy nation to build a wealthy nation. We will therefore continue to invest the state resources to improve the health status of our people. Today, we have come again, as a government that understands the need of its people to reach out to our citizens in order to alleviate their medical challenges.
“We have again made provisions to take care of various medical cases. The Government has provided adequate medications for this exercise and shall provide reading glasses for those that may require them. The current outreach program will take place in six centers with two (2) from each Senatorial district. We believe this will in no small measure reduce the current economic burden our people have had to bear.”
The governor expressed hope that the outreach would be regular, saying, “I take this opportunity to direct the Commissioner for Health to work out a plan to make this outreach a regular feature of this administration. The Ministry should create a holistic agenda in this respect. The programme should be mainstreamed across State health institutions.
“The implementation of the above directive will make the outreach more sustainable, more inclusive and expand the scope of benefit. I urge the Commissioner, the special advisers, the boards and the management of the state health institutions to integrate the private sector in the expanded programmes. This will expand funding capacity and eventually deepen the delivery capacity of stakeholders.”
In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Health, Jola Akintola, said, “Health is one of the five points agenda of this administration, his Excellency demonstrated in his first 100 days in office by inaugurating this outreach where 18,000 beneficiaries were projected but 22,000 benefited.
“On the 30th March, 2023, his Excellency celebrated the HIV/AIDs surge which was witnessed by the United States Consultant General and the team for National Disease Control.
“In the management of tuberculosis, his Excellency has approved the purchase of two giant expert machines for all the diagnoses of the disease to complement the ones on ground to make it easier for diagnosis and treatment of the disease.”
