Hundreds of residents of the Ifitedunu community and environs in Dunukofia Local Governement Area of Anambra State on Wednesday received free medicare from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi.

The medical outreach was in partnership with the Department of Family Medicine of the institution.

The exercise which took place at Ifitedunu General Hospital saw many people trooping out from various villages to take advantage of the opportunity made available by the NAUTH.

Consultants at Family Medicine Department, Dr Iroanusi Chinyere and Dr Okorie Onyinye gave health talks on the need for visiting the hospital immediately after an ailment was detected and the negative effects of alcoholism, smoking and intake of synthetic foods on healthy living as well as issues on cancer, respectively.

The royal father of Ifitedunu, Igwe Dr Chukwuemeka Ilouno expressed joy over the medical outreach which, according to him, would greatly assist the indigent patients in the community to have access to medicare.

He said as a matter of fact that the community would provide all that was needed including security to ensure the smooth running of the General Hospital as an annexe of the NAUTH.

Igwe Ifitedunu revealed that efforts were ongoing to ensure that everyone in the community was captured in the National Health Insurance Scheme which he said was just N12,000 per year per person.

Igwe Ilouno commended the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the NAUTH, Associate Prof. Joseph Ugboaja for blazing the trails in the leadership of the health institution.

In his comment, the CMD represented by the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Associate Prof Ogochukwu Ezejiofor, said that the outreach to Ifitedunu and the adjoining communities was part of the NAUTH’s social responsibilities programmes.

He confirmed that the Ifitedunu General Hospital had become an annexe of the NAUTH and that the hospital would be manned by quality medical personnel and adequately equipped to take care of its new responsibilities to the people.

Highlights of the medical outreach were health promotion, free medical consultation, free screening for common ailments, free eyecare services and
free dental care services.

A beneficiary, Mrs Nneka Okeke thanked the Ifitedunu monarch and the management of NAUTH for the medical outreach which she said was timely for many patients who could not afford to go for treatment because of medical bills as a result of the nation’s economic realities.

Source: The Sun