THE Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has offered various free medical services, including dental care and reading glasses, to 100 underprivileged children in Ibadan.
The medical outreach was part of activities to flag the association’s 12th Biennial Delegates Meeting 2021, with the theme “Strengthening the Health System Amidst Dwindling Resources”. It was held at La Vie Mort Orphan and Vulnerable Children Home.
A former chairman of MDCAN, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan branch, Dr Adefemi Afolabi, said the outreach was part of the association’s social responsibility to extend their skills and knowledge to the people they think need it most.
He said: “These are people who may not have access to the hospital; in terms of money to pay for drugs or registration. Children are the most vulnerable group in our population. They are the voiceless people in society, so we need to take care of them.
“What a man becomes in the future starts from childhood; from birth to age five, whatever a child goes through influences what the child later does. So, we must have a focus on the children because we are laying a good foundation for the future of our country.
“We look at their mouth and teeth, to take care of their oral health to prevent spending money later on cardiac surgery as they are related.”
The coordinator of the outreach representative, Dr Richard Omoyeni, said it was necessary to boost the health of the children at the orphanage as malnutrition and eye ailments are most common among them.
The coordinator of the orphanage home, Mr Marcus Williams, said the medical outreach was apt as there had been frequent trips to the hospital lately to treat the children for malaria, typhoid and skin infection.
He said: “This is an answer to prayers as we have been having incessant visits to the hospital and it has been taking a fortune out of us in the last two months.”
He noted the need for government to make health care affordable for the common man.
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