Barrister Obinna Gives Over 800 People Free Medical Services in Enugu Community

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines Monday, December 9th, 2013

IGNATIUS OKPARA, Enugu

Not less than eight hundred residents of Awha Ndiagu, community in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State on Saturday received free health care services courtesy of a good spirited individual, Barrister Okeke Obinna.

The 2-day free medical care, which bagan on Saturday, was carried out by a team of doctors, nurses and other health care givers.

Speaking to newsmen at the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Hospital, venue of the exercise, the benefactor, Barr. Okeke Obinna explained that he was moved by the health challenges confronting members of the neglected community.

He further noted that the programme is driven by passion for service and gratitude to God, pointing out that it has no political undertone.

His words: “I invited a team of medical doctors to come and embark on a 2-day free medical care for my people. The doctors from Abuja, Lagos and Enugu are screening, diagnosing and giving drugs to the patients. Special cases are being referred to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital UNTH.

“I discovered that one of the major reasons why our people die prematurely is lack of access to medical treatment and then I told my wife that anytime I have the means, I will start a foundation that will help in bringing those sensitive facilities so that our people can access them.

“The starting point is what we have done today by bringing these doctors here; we did it last year in Nsukka, my wife’s place; probably next year, we will go to another community that has serious need”, he stated.

Okeke, added that “what we are doing is purely on our own sponsorship; we are not getting fund from anywhere; it is a way of telling God ‘thank you for how you have blessed us’.

“What I am doing has no political undertone; it is just a passion, a dream, I am not aspiring for any position come 2015, I don’t intend to aspire. For me and my wife, we don’t have any political aspiration unless it comes by miracle.”

Also speaking with journalists, leader of the medical team from Abuja, Dr. Taiwo Fasoranti had described the exercise as one of the best ways to bring about the much needed transformation in Nigeria.

He disclosed that “we have seen a lot of hypertension, diabetes, and a lot of eye illnesses. Lucky enough, the couple that brought us has been so generous to have provided a team of eye doctors as well, with a consultant ophthalmologist, so we refer eye cases to the ophthalmologist.

“We have also seen a lot of malnutrition on the part of children, we have seen a lot of under-nutrition, we have seen a lot of fungal infection, we are trying our best to do de-worming and to explain the importance of good nutrition to the mothers so that they can have healthy children”.

“I am humbled, I am overwhelmed by what God is using one Nigerian to do here these two days; in Abuja, I see a lot of stupendously rich people, if they all start doing this kind of thing in their communities, there will be a lot of transformation in Nigeria”, he added.

In his speech, the ophthalmologist, said major eye challenges identified in the community included cataract, glaucoma, stressing that “I have seen some which are really irreversible, these are people who if we had seen them earlier, we would have saved them from getting blind.

“However, there are quite a number of them that can be helped, there are some that require glasses; then those we can’t treat here, especially those that require surgical intervention, will come to the teaching hospital”.

However, before the exercise came to a close on Sunday, not fewer than 800 people have received one form of medical care or the other as well as free drugs.