The 2023 edition of the annual free medical outreach, sponsored by the Ijebu Boys Association (IJBOYS), which ran from 8th to 11th June at De-Millennium Hall, Itoro, inside Ijebu Ode Local Government Secretariat, Ogun State, 1,155 patients were tested for various diseases, according to the report from the virology department.
Other diseases tested included tuberculosis and 22 fully blown cases of HIV/AIDS. Sixteen of the HIV/AIDS cases were aware they are carriers. The carriers were counselled not to lose hope. They were given appropriate drugs and referred to the state-owned General Hospital for further treatment and management of the virus.
The medical outreach had various units such as virology, dentistry, and ophthalmology eye screening session. There were also laboratory diagnostics for instant testing and pharmacy units, where prescribed drugs were given freely to beneficiaries.
The laboratory unit attended to 239 patients, most diagnosed with blood sugar, malaria and typhoid fever. High blood pressure was also a major medical crisis that is afflicting the majority of the elderly patients that thronged the outreach.
The eyes diagnostic and treatment unit was overwhelmed with over 1,500 patients having one medical concern or the other. Six hundred eyeglasses prescribed to patients were given freely to them. Other patients with more serious situations including cataracts, glaucoma were referred to a state-owned hospital in Ijebu Ode and Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital Sagamu, Ogun State.
During the opening ceremony, the President of the association, Mr Olagbuyi Oduniyi, advised the residents of Ijebuland who came to benefit from the outreach to always pay good attention to their health. He stated that IJBOYS can only do their best. However, working on their lifestyle can go a long way to preventing some serious illnesses.
“The most important thing is for every one of you to take your health seriously. You must cultivate a healthy lifestyle; eat healthy, low-cholesterol foods and ensure you drink a lot of clean water daily. We are here every year to provide you with this free medical service and also give you good quality drugs and food for three days. This is to augment what the government are doing. Our wish is that more associations like ours and other corporate organisations can come together to emulate what we are doing so that more people can benefit”, Oduniyi said.
Drugs worth N4 million were given out to patients while 12 wheelchairs and 25 mobility aids equipment worth N1.5 million were presented to lucky beneficiaries as prescribed by the doctors. In addition to the drugs, reading glasses were given to those who needed them while over 2,000 patients that came for the outreach were provided with sumptuous meals.
Physically challenged beneficiaries on wheelchairs included Mr. Shakiru Idris from Odo Egbo ward; Mr. Adesina Osinuga from Imepe ward; and Mrs. Toyin Abosede Oyebanjo from Itun Oke, Odosimadegun, a community in the outskirt of Ijebu Ode.
Others included Ms. Adenike Osinuga; a stroke patient, Mr. Yusuf Salaudeen; Mrs Christana Somide and Ms Debby from Obanta Quarters, Ijebu Ode. Other beneficiaries came from Ijebu Igbo, Sagamu, Isiwo, Imodi-Imosan, Ijebu Aiyepe, and Epe, Lagos State, as well as from Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Special Guests of Honor and Royal Father of the Day are: Executive Chairman of Ijebu Ode Local Government Council, Alhaji Babatunde Emilola Gazal; Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye Kingdom, Oba (Dr.) Abdul-Rasaq Adesina Adenugba, Okoko-Danameji I; Joint Chief Medical Director/Co-Chairman at the EKO Hospital, Dr. Sunny Kuku; and former Head of Department of Political Science at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Prof. (Hon.) Bankole Okuwa.
Established in 2017, the IJBOYS is a non-profit, non-partisan social association. It is a platform for the group of friends who grew up together in the 70s and 80s to congregate, associate and promote the spirit of brotherhood, to seek human and physical development of Ijebuland through educational, economic and social initiatives; as well as thought leadership.
The free medical outreach was inaugurated in 2019 as its annual signature project. This year’s edition is the fourth in the series. The IJBOYS provided food palliatives twice during the Covid-19 era across various towns and villages in Ijebuland.
