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The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has lamented that many Nigerians still die of treatable diseases due to poverty and lack of access to quality healthcare services.
Bamidele, who called for an improved primary healthcare system to reduce mortality rate in the country, appealed to state governors to prioritise the health needs of people at the grassroots.
The senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, spoke through his Senior Legislative Aide, Bunmi Oguntuase, in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Friday, while rounding off the second phase of his free medical outreach across the district’s five local government areas.
No fewer than 9,400 persons benefited from the second outreach, while 6,600 constituents had benefited from the first phase of the programme undertaken in partnership with the Industrial Arbitration Panel.
The beneficiaries were diagnosed and treated for ailments like hepatitis, hypertension, visual problems, diabetes and hernia, while free eyeglasses were given to those suffering from all manners of visual impairments.
Bamidele said, “Poor access of many Nigerians to quality healthcare remains a snag in the attainment of universal health coverage. Let me advise our governors to invest more in the primary healthcare sector that remains the closest to the poor masses.”
“What we are doing is to give succour to those being afflicted by diseases who don’t have the means to seek medical treatments.
“Going by what some of the beneficiaries said, most of them had been experiencing the sicknesses for years, but today, they have been treated. Those with chronic health issues have been referred to better hospitals and we are ready to foot the bills to give our people the dividends of democracy they deserve.”
The Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejugbe, commended the lawmaker for his gesture.
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