A socio-cultural group in Benue State known as ‘Mutual Union of the Tiv in America’ (MUTA) on Saturday in Gboko said that over 2,000 people have benefited from the ongoing health fair.
The group, Health Committee Chairman, Dr Orduen Abunku who disclosed this to newsmen at St. John’s Secondary School, Gboko said the group was carrying out the program with support from the Catholic Diocese of Gboko and Global Health and Development Initiative which are being sponsored by Red Aide Nigeria.
According to him, the group intended to support the existing health structures in the state for improved services, adding that the most common illness diagnosed so far were eye problems and that in one to eight patients, eye issues were discovered.
Among the eyes, challenges noticed range from inching, pains and others.
Abunku, a former commissioner for health and human services in the state said other cases discovered are hypertension, and abdominal amongst others.
“We are here on behalf of the MUTA to conduct a health fair for the people of Gboko at St. John’s Secondary School Gboko, courtesy of the Catholic Diocese Gboko. They offered the facility for us to conduct this fair.
“We have seen over 500 people yesterday, the crowd today is extremely much more than that of yesterday. We have a very competent team that can execute the exercise.
“At the end of the exercise, over 2000 people are expected to benefit from this health fair. This is part of MUTA’s contribution to society. Gboko is the traditional headquarters of Tiv people and we decided to conduct the 2024 health fair here.
“Ours is only to complement the efforts of the government and the Catholic Church for our people to have access to quality healthcare service delivery”.
Abunku further listed other members of the health fair committee including: Dr Terwase Diwa, Mrs Jene Abunku, Helen Nyamor and Ahsizungwe Nyamor.
Also, the head of the pharmaceutical unit of the health fair, Dr Diwa said they had enough drugs to meet the needs of the patients.
Diwa said they have made additional plans so that there would not be any shortage adding that the goals and objectives of MUTA were to complement the existing health structures in the State.
Also, Mrs Jene Abunku said the aim of the union was purely to support the health needs of the people.
Speaking to one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Ruth Igbadoo, said she had suffered eye problems for years and could not get medical attention until the fair.
She said the fair had helped her to get the needed attention and thanked the organisers for coming to their aid.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
WHO urges journalists to prioritise health reportage
and then