By Ayo Fadimu
No fewer than 1,240 persons have benefited from a four-day free medical treatment initiated by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Gombe State.
The beneficiaries were treated under the scheme’s 2021 Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD), conducted between June 21 and 25.
The State Coordinator of the scheme, Mrs Ada Imoni stated this in an interview with our Correspondent on Wednesday in Gombe.
Imoni said the exercise recorded significant successes in view of the number of people treated in the medical outreach.
She said that free healthcare services, drugs and health education were provided to the beneficiaries at Kwadon community in Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area of the state.
The health education, she said, was designed to educate rural dwellers on how to make informed decisions about their health.
She said that four persons were being referred to the Gombe State Teaching Hospital for further investigation and treatment, adding that the scheme also sought for the support of the state goverment to treat the patients.
The coordinator said the gesture was geared towards improving the wellbeing of rural dwellers for sustainable social and economic development in the country.
“It will go a long way in line with the desire of the NYSC towards improving the wellbeing of rural dwellers through improvement of their health status to ensure national development,” she said.
While commending the state government for its support, Imoni also thanked the Council’s Chairman, Alhaji Shuaibu Galadima and District Head of Kwando, Mohammed Abubakar, for providing meals to the patients during the exercise.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Sadiya Mohammed, who commended the gesture, said she was diagnosed of malaria and received free drugs.
Mohammed, a mother of two, described the intervention as timely in view of the economic challenges preventing the people from accessing quality healthcare services at the grassroots.
Our Correspondent reports that the NYSC had deployed over 50 corps medical volunteers comprising doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dentists, opticians, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists and nutritionists among others.