Kogi community wants hospital revamped

The people of Ogori in Ogori/Mangogo Local Government Area of Kogi State have appealed to the state government to revitalise the community's hospital to enable them get quick access to medical care.

They spoke through the Ogori Grand Progressive Initiative, OGPI, the community association that has been organising a yearly medical outreach to bridge the health gap of the people in the area in the last four years.

OGPI's Spokesperson, Mrs Petra Onyegbule, made the appeal, at the 2017 grand finale of the six days medical outreach for the community.

Onyegbule while appreciating Governor Yahaya Bello for his support towards this year’s medical outreach, however, said that revamping the General Hospital in the community would "make a bigger difference".

A United Kingdom based medical practitioner, and the chief consultant of the programme, Dr. Augustine Obaro and his wife who have been the major sponsors of the OGPI medical outreach, said over 10,000 persons have benefitted since its inception.

He said: “The team was able to purchase vital drugs, hire the services of 10 medical practitioners which comprises of six medical doctors, nurses and laboratory scientists, who facilitated the team’s capacity to attend to so many community members who needed medical care.”

He said the OGPI's free medical intervention covered treatment for ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, optometry cancer, arthritis and rheumatism, free health consultations, deworming of children under five years and prophylactics treatments.

Speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, Isaac Itopa commended OGPI for the gesture, saying it has afforded many members of the community access to basic health care services lacking in the area.