Accord Party Senatorial Candidate Promises to Revamp Health/ Education Sectors
Olubunmi Osoteku, Ibadan.
The Accord Party’s senatorial candidate for Oyo South has declared his commitment to the revamping of Oyo state’s health and education sectors, when elected.
He said the success of any government could be measured by the seriousness with which it handles the aforementioned sectors.
The candidate, Kolapo Kola-Daisi, made the promise in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, at the closing of a three-day free medical outreach organized by him for residents of Oyo South senatorial district, pledging to prioritize their health and education when elected.
According to him, the outreach was one of his ‘Jeka Dasi’ projects for the people of his senatorial district and would be sustained as an annual programme, noting that a healthy crop of constituents should be one of the goals facilitated, as a true representative of the people.
Affirming that the timing for the outreach was good, given the stress many had experienced as a result of the nationwide cash and fuel frustrations, Kola-Daisi said: ‘We want to help thousands of people with their health issues. This exercise would be ongoing and would be repeated every year, when elected into office.
‘To keep it running, we will build an even better and more sustainable infrastructure around it.
‘We’re even thinking about bringing medical outreach to people in their communities so they don’t have to travel far to get healthcare and treatments. Our people need to be healthy,’ he stated.
Not less than six visiting physicians in different areas of specialty from cardiology to general medicine and dentistry, with support from 14 volunteer doctors from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, handled the outreach.
The team leader of Medical Aid for Africa and one of the six foreign Doctors at the outreach, Dr. Sabu George, said the group had been able to raise awareness of hypertension during the three-day medical outreach, as those screened for hypertension were taught about the importance of taking recommended medicines on a regular basis.
‘One of the biggest challenges we have seen is that people believe hypertension is a disease someone can treat a little bit of time because it doesn’t have specific symptoms.
‘Many people stop taking the medication because they believe it has cured them.
‘Once diagnosed, people must understand that they have the silent killer disease. They must strictly adhere to the medication, and they must be aware that the medication is not expensive and can be obtained locally,’ he emphasized.
In his remarks, the director-general of the Kolapo Kola-Daisi Campaign Group, Sunday Babalola, stated that the outreach served as a reminder of one of the candidate’s free health care programmes for women and children in the constituency.
No fewer than 10,000 citizens benefitted from the three-day free medical outreach sponsored by Kola-Daisi in partnership with the Medical Aid for Africa and Access to Basic Healthcare (ABC) Foundation.
The beneficiaries were screened for hypertension, diabetes and eye and dental problems, while majority went home with various free medical supplies.
The beneficiaries lauded the efforts of Kola-Daisi in promoting healthy living among residents and pledged to vote for the candidate in the February 25 election, expressing confidence in his ability to deliver democratic dividends across the district.
Edited by Amaka E. Nliam
