Over 800 receive free medical services
LAMGABHI – Over 800 residents from communities under LaMgabhi Constituency showed up for free medical services that were offered by the Taiwan Medical Mission (TMM).
On Saturday, the TMM took their outreach services to LaMgabhi Constituency to offer free medical service. The outreach is part of an ongoing initiative in which Taiwanese teams visit rural areas around Eswatini to bring medical care to those who might find it difficult to access.
The Minister to the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Eswatini Ching-lin Tsuei and the head of the mission Dr Tu Hsueh Yeh, led a team of medical specialists to offer free services, including ultrasound check-ups, medication dispensary and consultation with specialists. The temporary medical facility was stationed at Nyandza High School.
LaMgabhi was the third constituency to be visited by the mission this year. In -anuary, the mission visited Kubuta Constituency where 189 people received services. Over 300 people were also reached at Mkhiweni constituency.
On Saturday, 816 people were reached at LaMgabhi and was the highest of all three constituencies. The Constituency’s MP, Dumisani Dlamini explained that the reason there were a lot of people who showed up was due to various reasons, stating that the proximity of hospitals was one of the reasons they showed up in larger numbers.
“The nearest hospitals are Luyengo and KaZondwako in Mankayane. All these hospitals are far from the communities as people have to travel between 15 to 20 kilometres to reach them,” he said.
The universal health coverage states that people should not travel more than 8km to get medical services.
Highlighted
Dlamini highlighted that Lamgabhi residents were health conscious. He cited that the constituency had the highest number of CO9ID-19 vaccination rate, sitting at close to 100 per cent.
The MP also stated that he tried to liaise with rural health motivators and schools to ensure that all age groups were reached.
There was a significant number of young people who were receiving medical services, which the MP said it was attributed to the alliance he had with local schools.
He also highlighted that 40 per cent patients were males while 60 were females.
Dlamini said they were pushing to have a significant number of males to take care of their health and beat the notion that males were reluctant when it came to medical service.
Pleased
He said he was pleased to see the ratio increase compared to previous years.
This idea was originally conceptualised when the medical mission team at Mbabane Government Hospital realised that it was challenging for certain far-reaching rural communities to get adequate access to medical care due to their remote location.
The minister began the initiative by reaching out to rural community leaders to agree on venues that would be convenient to bring the services. The initiative involves health education programmes where specialists educate those they treat on everyday health, precautionary measures to take to prevent illness in their daily lives, and how to recognise symptoms and contact doctors when needed. Apart from the medical services, 200 patients were also given free packs of rice by the team from Taiwan. The rice packs were at first come first serve basis. However the MP committed that those who were left out would be given their rice packs at a later date.