The people of Elele town in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State have benefitted from an intense medical programme put together by the Medical Mission For Peace in conjunction with AmeriCares and Elele Health Association.
The programme which was held recently at the Rotimi Amaechi Center for Empowerment (RACE) Elele, was targeted at providing free healthcare basically for residents of the area who are least likely to afford it.
The medical team which comprised Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Medical Assistants and Crowd control Personnel treated different degrees of ailments ranging from malaria, typhoid fever, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure as well as bacteria infections.
The two days programme which started at 9am to 4pm daily recorded 703 patients with visual problems, among which were children of 6 months old and adults in their 90s, just as patients under the age of 20yrs with high pressures were dilated.
Addressing newsmen shortly after the exercise, Dr. Welekwe Nnamdi, the optometrist said, “We took intraocular pressures on the sight-saving glaucoma drops. Some of the cases we treated required foreign body removals and dry eyes due to meibomian duct dysfunctions.
“The youngest patient with glaucoma was 22 yrs old. We had an ‘autorefractor reading of ‘unable to read’ because it exceeded the +/-10,00D limit. He was +10-00D in both eyes. We did not have any +10.00D glasses with us but we did have +8.50D with a bifocal.
“We also had a child with severe left eyelid ptosis. We found she had a corneal ulcer for over a week and we started her on a pulse dose of vigamox (antibiotic drop).
“Sunglasses were a hit, especially the kids’ sunglasses, because patients under 20 years of age were all dilated. Patients loved receiving a new pair of glasses and were very grateful. The patients’ faces radiated with palpable joy as each of them had the eyeglasses stuck on their faces, discovering a new world around them”, he said.
While also identifying some challenges associated with the programme such as low workforce, recruitment of volunteers, due to limited geographic area targeted, insufficient drugs and short duration, Dr. Nnamdi said, “We ran out of drugs and had to make purchases at retail in the open market. We also had to shut down and turn away patients due to short duration”, he said.
On his part, founder, Medical Vision for Peace, Dr. Ogu Emejuru expressed gratitude to AmeriCares for donating the medical supplies and drugs.
He thanked CHIMATEMS LLC for their support for providing additional drugs for the exercise and lauded the efforts of all the health volunteers from the community that gave up their time to help in the health care of the community.
He particularly expressed appreciation to Dr. Ike Nlerem who is the President of Elele Health Association and Ms. Janet Obunwo, a prominent Nurse based in New York for their contributions to the success of the programme.
Dr. Emejuru also donated 600 readers myopic single-vision glasses and sunglasses for the programme.
Meanwhile, during the follow up debriefing, Medical Visions for Peace and Elele Health Association pledged a yearly free medical mission for the people, while also seeking support from members of the community.
Beneficiaries of the programme which includes older adults and children expressed happiness for the medical intervention. A total of 1,709 patients were treated during the exercise.
