Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation provides free healthcare services to over 1,000 Anambra residents
The Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation in collaboration with the Voom Foundation has hosted a 3-day health week fair that took place between 14th and 16th of December, 2021 at Oraifite, Anambra State. The health missions team comprises medical assistants, general practitioners, and volunteers from the USA and teaching hospitals in Nigeria. The project was meant for beneficiaries to get screened and receive medical treatment, consultation as well as drugs from professionals for free.
Speaking with Dr. Vincent Ohaju, the Founder of Voom Foundation who is also a trauma surgeon and intensivist said “I am happy the Sir Emeka Okwusoa Foundation is investing greatly in healthcare and it was good to come down to this country and do something in the healthcare industry to raise the standard of health in the South-East. The last three days have been an exciting time with a lot of interesting patients. Many patients do not know they have high blood pressure, arthritis, hypertension, but this adventure has been able to give hope to all. It has been a dream of a lifetime even having local and international volunteers.”
He also shared how both foundations aim to have open-heart surgery on this ground soon in 2022.
The event recorded an overwhelming number of 1,450 beneficiaries of Anambra State within the three days, providing medical treatment, drugs, consultations, and running labs. Examples of intensive healthcare that were recorded included issuing out a wheelchair to an aged patient who could not walk and giving eyeglasses to 111 beneficiaries.
The event had in attendance representatives like Dr. Vincent Ohaju, the Founder of Voom Foundation, Shawn Andaya-Pulliam, the Executive Director of Voom Foundation; Honorable Azuka Okwuosa, a former executive Chairman of Nnewi-North and former Anambra’s gubernatorial candidate, 2021 and the Director of the Foundation.
Voom Foundation is partnering with the Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation because they believe that everyone irrespective of their social class should have quality healthcare. These organizations are changing the face of the healthcare system in Nigeria where intensive care, surgeries can be very affordable for all. The partnership is also extending into the state-of-the-art hospital where Voom Foundation will support the Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation with technical guidance as they set up the hospital.
Speaking with Dr. Vincent Ohaju, he said the hospital facility will be a teaching hospital that can groom young medical professionals, according to him, the hospital will address open-heart surgeries. The Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Hospital will be the first hospital in the South-East with modern Catlab medical machines for surgery.
Shawn Andaya-Pulliam, the Executive Director of Voom Foundation talked about how the last health week was a successful one in September and how the just concluded one was their groundbreaking record of attended beneficiaries.
Honorable Azuka Okwuosa was present on the first day of the event. He encouraged residents, invited guests and community dwellers to take hold of the opportunity during the three days.
Amanda Obidike shared that in the statistics gathered, over 800 beneficiaries above the age of 60 years old with 4 in 5 of them are being diagnosed with high blood pressure, Malaria, or eye problem.
The General Manager, Amanda Obidike said that the objective of the project was to transform the face of healthcare delivery in Nigeria. “Rural residents in the South-East often encounter barriers to healthcare that limit their ability to obtain the care they need. In order for rural residents to have sufficient access, we collaborated with Voom Foundation from the USA to provide necessary and appropriate attention on arthritis, Malaria, typhoid, ulcer, hypertension, chronic pains, diabetes, and eye challenges. We are happy to have accomplished this milestone twice this year and we look forward to partnering with them in the future as this will help us a great deal when we launch the Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Hospital for healthcare operations in 2022,” Amanda asserted.
