About 100 people; both male and female of all age brackets on Saturday benefited from a free medical outreach and eye test service for residents of Ibadan during the fifth edition of the quarterly 10km fitness walk of the Inspiration 100.5 FM.
The outreach powered by the Inspiration 100.5 FM Ibadan, known as the family radio, was the radio stations platform of touching people living within Ibadan and as its social responsibility of advocating for clean living and ensuring good health for people within its immediate environment.
The programme kicked off with a 10 kilometres fitness walk which started at Inspiration FM office beside the Nigerian Labour Congress secretariat and terminated at the Lekan Salami stadium in Adamasingba where the other activities of the program held.
Hundreds participated in the walk which was led by the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatubosun supported by the General Manager of Inspiration 100.5 FM, Olufunmilayo Olasugba.
The fitness walk and medical outreach is Inspiration 100.5 Fm’s vision of emphasising need to pursue good health and to connect with its audience while filling perceived vacuums in medical care based on findings that many people desire good health but do not have the finances to pursue it.
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The programme was supported by the Three Crowns milk, Blue Gate Public Health Promotion Initiative, and the University College Hospital, among others also had other activities like aerobic session for participants, a fitness challenge and raffle draw
Speaking during the walk, Dr Wasiu Olatubosun stated that the significance of good health cannot be over emphasized, adding that the Inspiration FM fitness walk is a laudable project as exercise is good for the body and it is important to maintain good health.
Dr Olatubosun reiterated the importance of exercising the body as well as the need to regularly check up the body to achieve optimum health, stating that his ministry will soon commence on a series of advocacy to enlighten people in Oyo state especially those at the grassroots on the importance of exercise and medical check.
He called on people to always take part in such activities especially when it is free as such had saved lives in times past and encouraged other organization within the state to emulate the project and touch lives around them.
Various ailments were treated and medication given where required and there were health talks and individual counseling for the people treated. The medical outreach was to further reduce the vacuum in access to basic medical care by many and also encourage people to make conscious efforts in taking care of their health.
Speaking on the exercise, one of the beneficiaries, Moses Ajah expressed appreciation to Inspiration 100.5 FM for the opportunity which has helped him to know his health status. “I knew I hardly exercise but what I don’t know is that I had health issues but today, I have found out the cause of my incessant headaches which could have led to something else. So I am grateful for this opportunity,” he stated.
Representative of the Blue Gate Public Health Promotion Initiative said the primary purpose of her organization is to carry out basic health checks so that people will know their health status. “We are here to carry out medical tests for people that participated in the fitness walk; we have various stands for basic tests like the blood sugar stand, blood pressure stand and the body mass index stand, so that they can know where they stand medically and steps they need to take to curb any likely ailment before it blows out of proportion,” she said.
The General Manager of Inspiration 100.5 FM, Olufunmilayo Olasugba, who thanked people that participated for making the event a success, stated that the project was aimed at improving the health conditions of people in the community and encouraging fitness, to prevent minor ailments. Aside giving palliative measures to health challenges, the fitness walk and medical outreach is also to cultivate the habit of checking their health status routinely to prevent late diagnosis and complications.
Aside the fitness walk and medical outreach, there was also a raffle draw where winners went home with gifts like electric iron, electric cooker, home theatre, milk, bags and pack of juice among other things.