Over 700 Lagosians benefit from free medical outreach to promote healthy living – New Telegraph

The Japhet Olugbogi Foundation (JOF) has screened about 700 persons while providing them with free treatment, including medications for various ailments. The JOF carried out the free medical outreach at the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area office last week when citizens in the community accessed the much needed care services. While speaking to news men about the outreach, Dr. Japhet Olugbogi, a public health physician and founder of JOF, said the free medical services came at a time when people do not really have cash to go for the needed check-ups in hospitals due to the cash crunch that the country is currently going through.

“We carried out eye screening, gave out free recommended glasses, screened for hepatitis B, prostate specific antigen (PSA); we also screened for HIV and blood glucose. In addition, we screened clients that turned-up for tuberculosis (TB), high blood pressure (HBP) and we administered COVID-19 vaccination on interested persons. Furthermore, we gave routine immunisation to children as well as carried out treatments for minor ailments including malaria, typhoid, asthma as well as blood sugar test. According to Dr. Olugbogi who is also an epidemiologist, “Over 700 people benefitted from the programme in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos. The aim was to ensure that people who did not have access to medical facilities, those who did not have cash to visit medical facilities and people who did not have enough money to visit medical facilities seized that opportunity to get themselves checked and treated.

“There are so many people who have eye problems especially in the communities but do not even know that they have a problem in the eyes. When they had such an opportunity to receive treatment, they realised that it was actually glasses that they needed in the first place or some form of treatment for their eyes. We were able to help those who go about with headaches, persons who get tired easily and those with one form of symptom of hypertension or the other but did not know that they have these illnesses.

“With such a programme, these people will have the opportunity to get themselves checked and treated and should be able to follow up their conditions to prevent the ailments from getting worse. These are the problems that we proffered solutions to and we at the JOF take pride in carrying out these medical outreaches from time to time because we believe that there are so many people in the communities that lack the opportunity and that these free medical outreaches could help them.” Olugbogi also used the opportunity to encourage Nigerians to always go for checkups as there were some ailments that could stay hidden in the body and could result in serious health challenges.