2500 SCHOOL CHILDREN TO BENEFIT FROM ORILE AGEGE GH BACK-TO-SCHOOL MEDICAL OUTREACH
The Orile Agege General Hospital (OAGH) has announced that 2500 school children are to benefit from its Y2024 Back-to-School Medical Outreach for the 2024/2025 academic session resumption.
The Medical Director/CEO of OAGH. Dr. Sola Pitan disclosed this during the commencement of the week-long Back-To-school Medical Outreach held recently at the facility, stressing that the programme was initiated to meet the school-health needs of children within the Orile Agege community ahead of the school resumption. The initiative is the third edition and is themed: “Resume Healthy: Academic Excellence”, with a target of 2500 school children.
“The programme was designed to ensure a healthy life that enhances children’s learning between ages five and 15 during the school year. The children will go through paediatrics, evaluation, eye, ear, dental checks, nutrition/diabetes and social welfare services. The various screening will help detect potential health problems and improve the overall health of the children”, he stated.
The programme, he said, started in 2022 and it has been increasing by the year with the number of children and partners as more people in the community now trust the government hospitals with their health care, as such they come along with their children.
The Medical Director added that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led government recognised OAGH’s growth and designated the hospital as one of the government-owned facilities to start training medical house officers.
He said, “We have got accommodation for them; we are ready and waiting for the visit of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to come and accredit us. We thank the Governor for helping us to achieve that status. Our theatre used to be two but it’s now a four-suite theatre; we have also been able to expand the hospital services”, Pitan said.
This, according to him, is a testament to the good works that Governor Sanwo-Olu and all the health care providers are doing. All the training, capacity development, and every other tool and support are instrumental to the hospital’s achievements as well as the support of the community.
Dr. Pitan said OAGH is giving its best to the community to achieve the state government’s desire to increase further access to healthcare delivery within and outside Orile Agege.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Hospital Service Commission (HSC), Dr. Benjamin Eniayewun lauded the hospital for championing the well-being of children in the state through its health initiative.
He said: “What we have on ground is best described with ‘The fact speaks for itself’, I can only say that this is the way to go. Prevention is sometimes better than cure; health promotion is the way to go, and there is so much we can do in this space before people fall sick, they’ll toe the wellness line”.