By EricJames Ochigbo
Marro Healthcare Initiative (MHI) Has called for establishment of a specialised health centre to address the challenges faced by the elderly in Kabusa community in the FCT.
The call was made on the sidelines of a medical outreach for the elderly, organised by Marro Healthcare Initiative (MHI) on Sunday in Abuja.
The Initiator, Mrs Sandra Kekapoh, said that the elderly had no access to proper healthcare, especially the poor, stating that many of them were being neglected, discriminated against and abused.
Kekapoh, who congratulated the FCT Minister, Mr Nyasom Wike, for constructing internal roads in the community, said that attention should be shifted to medicare, especially for the elderly.
She said that MHI was already reaching out to the elderly by organising health talks, free medical checks, treatments and distribution of palliatives, which needed to be upscaled.
“I believe strongly that Nyesom Wike is hearing us; he is a strong man and he has demonstrated it in the construction of so many roads in Abuja, including Kabusa community.
“As you are hearing us, I believe that you will come to the rescue and help our older baba and mama in Kabusa and from here, we can upscale to other communities across the country,” she said.
Kekapoh said that the community had already provided land for the project, urging all businesses and religious bodies in the community to key into the initiative.
In his remarks, the Secretary of the initiative, Mr Patrick Dakah, said that the elderly were relegated, stigmatised and lacked care.
According to Dakah, all the young persons of today, if they do not die, will certainly become old, as the elderly today were once very young and active.
He called on all young persons in the society to always check up on their aged relatives rather than abandoning them.
“This older adults are custodians of our cultural heritage; they have wisdom that you and I do not have. So we need them in our society.
“So it is very important; we came and discovered that somebody’s blood pressure (BP) is extremely high; if we have not discovered now, the person would not have known about it.
“We are already making arrangements with the chief for that person to go to the hospital right now, because it is dangerous to his health,” he said.
Dakah said that the initiative was capital-intensive and time-consuming adding that the resources, finances and ideology required might be too much for a single individual to bear.
Also speaking , the traditional ruler of the community, Chief Samuel Kpowu, expressed gratitude for the intervention brought about by MHI to the community.
Kpowu said that the community had only one primary healthcare facility, which was s not enough to meet the health demands of the people.
He said that the only close option left for the people were the private clinics in the area which were usually too expensive for the common man to afford.
Kpowu pledged to remind the aged in the community of the health tips shared by experts at the outreach to enable them continue to improve on their health. (NAN)