By Aderogba George
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in partnership with International Labour Organisation (ILO) offered free medical services to residents of Ndakwo community, beside Sunny Vale, FCT, Abuja on Saturday.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, told newsmen that the essence of the outreach was to give back to the society and carry out part of the congresss social responsibility.
Represented by Deborah Yusuf, Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, FCT Chapter, Wabba said the outreach was the fifth in FCT.
He said NLC is standing in for Nigerian workers, and then in collaboration with ILO, this is a special outreach; this is the fifth time we are organising community outreach, it is all about giving back to the society.
It is part of our Corporate Social Responsibilities. We have workers everywhere, we are trying to give back to them, including their relations.
This outreach is very important and it is coming at this particular period not because of anything but we learnt that the people really need medical assistance.
Wabba said that they had various stations for registration and screening for HIV/AIDS, adding that it was important that people knew their HIV status.
He added that the group also educate people about knowing their HIV status, negative or positive, and to know that being positive is not a death sentence.
According to him, if anyone turns out positive, NLC will take the person to referral centre and follow-up so that the person will be placed on drugs and necessary investigations.
Wabba stated that the medical team would also do a confirmatory test if anyone was found to be HIV positive during the screening, adding that there was a team of experts handling that.
The NLC president also disclosed that part of the medical team on ground were those administering COVID-19 vaccine.
He said there were various brands of the vaccine such as Pifzer, Astrazeneca and Johnson and Johnson.
According to him, COVID-19 is a world health emergency that has affected everybody, and that the congress is using the outreach to also create awareness about the pandemic.
Expressing happiness with the turnout of people for the outreach, Wabba said that the congress was equally using the medium to educate people on the need to stay safe.
He said that part of the services the congress was offering were blood pressure and sugar checks, adding that people needed to check their status to avoid emergency.
Wabba said many people were down as a result of diabetes, and people had also collapsed as a result of BP, adding that all these diseases necessitated the need to screen people.
He said there was also consultation station, adding that people would be given drugs within the reach of the congress.
He explained that if there was any need for referral, such a person would be referred to any medical facility, and that there were laboratory scientists and nurses responsible for various tasks. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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Edited bty Chidinma Agu/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu
Source: NAN News