Ekiti communities’ free health services

By Sulaiman Salawudeen

Inhabitants of Ekiti North Senatorial District Ekiti State, recently had cause to rejoice when the second phase of state government’s Free Health Mission visited ten communities in the area in ten days, bringing relief to many who suffered from one form of ailment or the other. Sulaiman Salawudeen reports on the activities of the Mission.


It may not be wrong to state that among the items on Governor Kayode Fayemi’s 8-Point (Ekiti Development) Agenda, none has received generous and consistent attention as the health component which comes fifth on the Agenda and which has gulped a sizeable amount of the state’s resources.

It is to be recalled that Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as the governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), introduced the Free Health Mission which visited localities and communities in the state to offer free health to the teeming locals. Given the scale of success of the programme at the time, Dr. Fayemi promised to continue with the mission after assuming office.

He has done just this. Now, as part of the 8-Point Agenda of his administration, health care services continue to attract primal attention in state government’s efforts to ensure stronger and healthier population with continuous and sustained free medical services for children, pregnant women, the physically challenged, the poor and senior citizens above 65 years. Also, there was increased immunisation for children of all ages and resuscitation of health centres in all localities.

Recently, state government’s periodic Free Health Mission in conjunction with the Development Support Initiative (DSI), a non-government organisation, visited ten communities in Ekiti North Senatorial District.

The Mission offers Primary Health care, which include free diagnosis and treament to people with common ailments like malaria, typhoid, cough, measles, and so on. While identified special cases requiring more specific professional treatment were referred to secondary health care centres. All of these are for people living at the grassroot communities.

It equally gave opportunities for propagation of public health enlightenment to the communities in reducing infant, child and maternal mortality as well as incidences of lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, among others.

The Health Mission further revived the long-neglected community health centres as they were made to serve as venues for the Health Mission exercise and an avenue to positively, if more meaningfully, engage local health workers.

It is to be recalled that the first phase of the administration’s Free Health Mission was taken to communities across the three senatorial districts of Ekiti North, Ekiti Central and Ekiti South between 3rd and 20th January, benefitting a total of 123,427 people, while 5,500 pairs of glasses were distributed to various categories of patients with visual impairments.

A surprising discovery, particularly in respect of those with eye problems was that about 90 per cent of them had never undergone any eye examination prior to the time of government’s intervention through the Mission.

To ensure effectiveness of the scheme and allow more people in the grassroots have access to the benefits of the Mission, especially as a fallout of and based on the experience of the initial Missions, its execution on senatorial basis started late June with Ekiti North Senatorial District being the first among the three in the state to benefit from a repackaged senatorial district- based scheme.

Virtually all the 16 local government areas in the state were touched during the first phase of the Mission. It was discovered that more of the people in the hinterland needed assistance in the area of health.

There are five local government areas in Ekiti North including Ido/Osi, Ikole, Ilejemeje, Moba and Oye, with ten communities selected as treatment points for the people.

Between June 20 and June 30, the Free Health Mission was in the selected towns in the five local governments to accommodate surging crowd of needy rural inhabitants who streamed into designated towns in Ikole-Ekiti, Ayedun-Ekiti, Isan-Ekiti, Oye-Ekiti, Ilupeju-Ekiti, Ayetoro-Ekiti, Ifaki-Ekiti, Iye-Ekiti, Otun-Ekiti and Igogo-Ekiti.

Drugs, facilities and personnel were generously deployed into care of patients who took seats and waited patiently to be attended to while the DSI medical team led by Dr. Dolapo Fasawe, adopted an arrangement which gave all that came for treatment equal opportunity while assuring effectiveness.

The health challenges that received the attention of the medical personnel include common ailments like malaria, typhoid, dysentery, constipation and others, while special cases like hypertension, diabetes, eye and dental problems, antenatal care, HIV counselling were a few that received on-the-spot attention and consequent referral.

Most of the beneficiaries in the rural communities where the scheme was taken to saw the Free Health Mission as unprecedented and a signal that the government in Ado-Ekiti cares for those hitherto forgotten in far-flung communities.

Among those who benefited were the Olusin of Usin-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of the state, Oba Oluyemi Adedeji, who was among the eye patients that received free eyeglasses at Odo-Ayedun.

Also, 70-year-old Mrs. Rachel Falope who was treated by doctors at Ikole said bringing quality doctors and drugs to the local communities had never in whatever manner or form happened in the history of the state. To Mrs. Victoria Adeleye, another 70-year-old woman from Ijesa-Isu who suffered general body pain, expressed surprise that she was treated and given drugs without any money collected from her and other patients.

The Iye-Ekiti outing was lit up by the presence of the wife of the governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, who reiterated the commitment of the state government to health care delivery in the state.

The governor’s wife who was on hand used the opportunity to address women on the importance of family planning and reduction of maternal mortality rate in Nigeria which is the second highest rate in the whole world.

The state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who flagged off the second phase of the Free Health Mission in Odo-Ayedun unfolded the intent of his administration to commence free treatment of some segment of the state population very soon.
Other patients like Mr. Clement Amadi, a beneficiary in Iye-Ekiti, who received drugs, and his wife, Mrs. Janet Amadi, an eye patient described the Free Health Mission as a channel through which the grassroots are feeling the impact of the state government, urging state government to ensure that the scheme is sustained as, according to them, many people in rural communities lack the resources to procure drugs for ailments like hypertension and diabetes.

“I have seen the doctor and I have been given eyeglasses and no money was collected from me and other people who were treated. We are grateful to the governor for his efforts in the health sector and our prayer is that may God continue to help him”, Mrs Amadi said.

The Iye-Ekiti outing was lit up by the presence of the wife of the governor, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, who reiterated the commitment of the state government to health care delivery in the state.

The governor’s wife who was on hand used the opportunity to address women on the importance of family planning and reduction of maternal mortality rate in Nigeria which is the second highest rate in the whole world.

The state governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who flagged off the second phase of the Free Health Mission in Odo-Ayedun unfolded the intent of his administration to commence free treatment of some segment of the state population very soon.

Those to benefit from the new health initiative are children from age zero to six, people aged 65 years and over, pregnant women and the physically challenged.

Describing health care as very crucial in the implementation of his administration’s eight-point, Fayemi said all the health policies being implemented by his government are intended to benefit all the citizens of the state irrespective of affiliations, politics, religion, tribe.

“Although I belong to the ACN and I am a Catholic by faith, this scheme is meant for all people in the state not minding the party or the faith you belong to because our government is a government for all

the people of the state”, Fayemi said.

Reviewing the second phase of the Free Health Mission, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. ‘Wole Olugboji, described the second phase of the scheme held in Ekiti North Senatorial District as a huge success. and the state Government remains even more committed to carry the Mission further into more communities in the next phase of the programme.

Given the place and ranking of health in the life of man, there is no doubting the success of the coming Free Health Missions in the state, particularly considered against its largely agrarian set-up and the reach of poverty in the populace. There cannot also be doubting the seriousness of govenment in the area of improving the health of the populace given the fact that so far, the programme has gulped about N180, million according to the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olugboji.

The Health Missions have remained a beacon of hope to many who have suffered some critical ailments ages and were possibly bidding time to pack-up. It reached the commonly unreached people in the local communities and gave them the care free of charge.

However, it is contended that while the programme offers immediate palliatives for the people located both in the rural areas and the urban centres, it will equally be good to channel some of the resources into providing more enduring structures in the communities to sustain consistency of care to the people.

It is reasoned that it may be possible to meet immediate care needs and vacate the scenes, but some of the patients would require follow up attention that might be difficult for them to access being tucked in the hinterland.

Despite, the State Government has done well by taking free health to the teeming inhabitants of the indigenes, particularly those in the rural areas, who have suffered one form of illness or another for a long time without immediate succor as they lack the financial muscle and were distant from city centres.



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