A clergyman has called on the federal government to establish primary healthcare centres across communities in the country to help reduce the time for accessing medicare and save lives.
Gbolade Okenla, who is the pastor-in-charge of the City of David of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), made the call yesterday during the foundation-laying of a new primary healthcare centre in Daki Biu community of Jabi, Abuja.
Okenla, who informed that the hospital building and the medical outreach were part of the commemoration of the church’s 10th anniversary, explained that the provision of such facilities will give healthcare access to citizens with minor ailments and reduce the stress on secondary and tertiary health facilities as only serious ailments could be referred there.
“There are a lot of pregnant women and people with minor diseases that shouldn’t lead to death but the lack of N500, N1,000, or even N2,000 to move out of the community is causing people to die,” he said.
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Speaking on the medical outreach, the head of the church’s medical team, Dr Ado Theophilus, said the team of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other support staff from the church decided to carry out the exercise to treat many of the 8,000 residents of the community who couldn’t afford such medicare.
He observed the prevalence of malaria, skin diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, seizure disorder and others in the community.
On how to sustain the four-bed medical facility, he said the church and the community are working on the modalities to appoint medical personnel who will manage it.
