By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusoji Adeyanju has disclosed that over 300,000 people benefited from the
Omituntun Free Health Mission across the state.
Dr Adeyanju said this on Thursday while speaking at the end of the second quarter of the outreach at Ring Road Specialist Hospital, Ibadan, which witnessed an increase in the number of eye surgeries, dental care, physiotherapy cases treated.
Stressing that 50 per cent who benefited from the surgery were pensioners, Dr. Adeyanju expressed delight over the incorporation of dental care, eye treatment and physiotherapy into the free medical outreach.
“1, 639 benefited from eye surgery with glasses given at no cost, while 262 cataracts were done successfully.What gladdens my heart is the good will of our governor and immense support for the project”, he said.
Dr. Adeyanju added, ” When we started the Free Health Mission during Omituntun 1.0, treatment like dental care, eye treatment and physiotherapy were not there, now we have them in Omituntun 2.0.”
“Today, we have done 2,128 surgery, and I am happy because about 50 per cent of beneficiaries were pensioners. Also, we have 5,444 and 1, 288 beneficiaries for dental care services and physiotherapy respectively.”
The Coordinator, Omituntun Free Health Mission and the Director, Secondary Health Care and training in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Wale Falana while speaking said the project was massive, considering its impact on the people of the state.
Dr. Falana stressed that over 300,000 residents benefited from the project and that there were decreases in hernia cases, which he said was testimony that the project is yielding positive result, advising the beneficiaries placed on drugs, particularly hypertensive, diabetes, among others, to use their drugs accordingly.
He however admonished residents of the state to subscribe to Oyo state health insurance scheme with the payment of stipends for them to access needed health care.
In their separate remarks, some beneficiaries, Sola Oyebode and Sulaiman Nurudeen, commended the medical team for prompt and qualitative health care accorded for free and appealed to the Oyo State government to focus more on the rural dwellers in nooks and crannies of the state as a result of their financial status in the society.
