By Suzy Chukwuechedom, Onitsha
In their efforts in giving back to the society, United States of America based Organization named Lifted Hands ‘Inc’ also registered in Nigeria gives out free medical treatments to residents of Anambra community, concentrated more on blindness.
This, in a two days free medical outreach held at Uru Ogidi Community in Idemmili North Local Government Area of Anambra State rendered services in treatment towards free eye’s surgeries, free eye check, free medical checkup, diabetes test, malaria test, high blood pressure test and mental health check.
Speaking in an interview during the outreach, the President and Founder of the charity organization, Mr Moses Okaro said the initiative which has lasted for 15 years is an annual event in memory of their late mother, Mrs Gladys Okaro and aimed at reaching out to the less privileged, people who can not go the hospital .
Okaro said that this year’s outreach is targeted specifically for people suffering various visual impairment leading to blindness which they discovered from their findings to be on the increase owing to lack of proper treatment, diet and financial challenges.
He said about 1,500 people have been screened and so far treated, while 2, 500 will also be handled the next day before they head to Umuahia, Abia state for the next round.
According to him, “Today we came back home to carry out medical outreach to over 3,000 people in our community, we’re going to take care of every part of medical concerns of my people.
In this year outreach, we concentrated more on eye problems and blindness and we be carrying out eye surgeries to the needy in some of the teaching hospitals in the state.
“We are feeding over 2,000 people today and also giving out wears, shoes, eye glasses, slippers, books and pencil, biro and detergents”, he said.
He stressed that the primary and secondary school students are the ones to benefit from the free books and other writing materials.
He explained that about 15 medical personnel from US were on ground to assist the local medical practitioners in achieving this feat.
According to the founder, 10 persons have been screened and penciled for eye surgery while others are being taken care in various health needs.
” Last year we reached out to over 1000 people but this year we discovered increased cases of blindness among the people owing to lack of proper treatment, We decided to do this again with a focus on fighting blindness in our communities through free eye surgeries’,.
“Irrespective of state of origin or residence, this outreach has gone to Enugu state, other parts of Anambra and proceeding to Umuahia Abia State from there. There is no government funding in this because the outreach programme is funded by me and my siblings while we get collaborations from some like-minded organisations Like I am Daughters of Charity, Kaycoune Success empowerment initiative, Graceful Giving INC.
Nelson Okaro, the eldest in the family recalled that their late mother who died at the age of 80 was a widow who delighted in helping others and they therefore decided to keep her memories alive with the annual medical outreach.
Another of the children, Ekenem Okaro, who is a nurse in United States, also confirmed that their late mother started this journey by reaching out to the poor.
According to her, “We have to key into the programme to sustain it, though this time we’ve expanded it beyond our community, even by extension across the country.
Beneficiaries,-Michael Nweke, Obichukwu Okoye and Paschal Ossai who spoke could not hide their joy for the big relief which the free medical outreach has offered them.
Another beneficiary, Mr Elisha Mbamalu, thanked the Okaro family for sponsoring the free medical outreach and prayed God to continue to strengthen them in all ramifications.
