From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
There was joy recently in Atta Nwaambiri Community in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State as no fewer than 3,000 natives received free medical services from of their kinsmen who are medical doctors practising in the United States.
The three-day medical mission was apparently to address some of the medical challenges associated with aging such as high blood pressure, diabetes and eye problems, as well as surgeries which their kinsmen do not have the wherewithal to carry out at private hospitals or state government-owned hospitals.
No fewer than 3,000 persons were attended to by the medical team, with many going home with eye-glasses and free drugs during the three-day medical outreach.
There were about 10 medical doctors and other medical personnel led by Dr. Alexander Nnabue and Dr. Willy Akubuo, who incidentally is the chairman of the medical committee set up by the Atta Nwambiri Governing Council/Eze’s cabinet.
Dr. Nnabue along with the other medical personnel had travelled from the US to Atta town solely for the purpose of carrying out the free medical servics.
Chairman of Atta Nwambiri Governing Council/Eze’s Cabinet, Chief John Agbasi, said the leadership of the town decided to organise the programme in Atta Nwambiri to enable the community benefit from the services, as well as use it to promote unity among the three autonomous communities.
Chief Agbasi, who expressed delight at the massive turnout said the council was moved to introduce it in Atta to ameliorate the plight of those who could not easily access medical services as a result of cost or other factors.
He noted with dismay that a lot of people die because their ailments were not detected early enough.
Agbasi expressed gratitude to the team of doctors and other medical personnel for successfully performing a number of surgeries on their people, including a 14 year-old girl with an abnormal growth on her ear.
“This medical mission is one of our five-year rolling plan. There are a lot other programmes that will be beneficial to our people and the town at large. Why I initiated this is because I have traveled wide and seen that this is what other more organized towns are doing for their people. Again, I always draw inspiration from the statement of one of America’s presidents who said: “In measuring a man’s success, his assets are not included, but the smiles he puts on people’s faces. So, I’m thinking of how to put smiles on the faces of people,” he said.