Medical mission:ASA-USA treats over 9,000 patients in Anambra

 For 10 years running, the Anambra people living in the United States of America under the aegis of, ASA-USA have carried out free medical ASA' mission in almost all the 177 communities of the state.

The ASA-USA Medical Mission, which has become consistent over the years has the blessing and finacial support of the state government and has been a source of relief to many, especially those in the rural areas who lack medical attention due to either lack of medical facilities or poverty.

Though this year's mission which started on August 3 and ended on August 8, was said to have suffered some serious sabotage by the state government which at the dying minute pulled out of the usual financial support, it turned out to be the best ever.

Starting from Nando where it started this year to the other five communities ofEnugwuagidi, Nkwellezunaka, Okija, Ogbunike and Nnobi, the six days mission witnessed a large turnout of people desirous for medical attention.

At the end of the six-day intensive mission about 100 personnel; 40 from the USA and 60 from within, attended to over 9,000 patients.

Reacting to the activities of the mission, the President General of Nando, Chief Sylvester Odife said that his community was happy and wished it was for two days.

He also commended ASA-USA for the interest on the good health of their people at home.

He on behalf Nando people thanked their son, Pharm. Greg Ogboue who made it possible for the mission to come to their community.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr. Okoro Uyanmadu, who was treated for eye problem, thanked the mission for their care, noting that he was checked and given drugs for free.

He, therefore, urged the ASA- USA not to relent in their good gesture, praying that God would bless and replenish their purse.

The PG ofEnugwuagidi, Ezenwa- for said the mission had put smiles on the faces of the people, noting that it was something to be promoted, urging the benefactors not to relent in doing good.

Mrs. Florence Eze who is the head of Medcine Obijackson Children Hospital Okija said: "I think it is wonderful helping our people, we have also contributed our staff and we are here to support. I think it is wonderful our people from abroad are coming to give back to the land and our people and that is what we are also doing at Obijackson Children Hospital, giving back to our people."

Ify Azudiugwu from Ihiala who had test and was given drugs said: "I thank God for the exercise and those who organized it and pray that the merciful God will replenish their pockets. It is not easy for someone to volunteer to treat people free of charge in this part of the world where things are very difficult, it is not easy and I thank God for their lives." .


Speaking to Oriental News, the President of Atlanta chapter and Interim Chairman, ASA-USA, Oliver Nwabude, who led the team, said the six-day mission was to provide healthcare to the people of Anambra State.

Explaining the ASA-USA medical mission, Nwabude said for the past 10 years approximately, "ASA-USA is USA-based organization and they have several goals and one of the set goals is to provide free medical mission to the people of Anambra State. And also they have education, human rights and Research and Development (R&B), that is what they I have been doing every year for the past 10 years.

"This year even we are interim management board, but it's important to continue what is known to be our signature project, the medical mission and we did agreed that we must have a continuity of the past years to embark on the medical mission and that we embark on the medical mission and we delivered that this year.
"This year, we have about 40 volunteers from USA and the volun- teers consist of physicians, medical doctors, a pharmacist, nurses and people from different professions.


The number from USA is 40 and we came here and recruited about 60 local volunteers to support our staff because every town we visited we see an average of 1,000 to 1,500 patients and from 8:00a.m to 5:00p.m; to be able to see all the people we have to that large number of staff and we were able to do that by recruiting local volunteers to work in different capacities to augment what we brought from USA," he said.

On their challenges lie said: "This year is a big challenge. In the past years the Anambra State government had financially supported the medical mission. This year we are carrying on the medical mission based on the fact that the Anambra State government will support us financially as they had done in the past and the gave us the hope that they will support us. Just in the first week in July, they told us that they will support the mission but they would not support us financially and that was difficult for some of the volunteers to cope with. But as the chairman I told them this mission will continue as planed whatever it will take, if it will take personal sacrifice I will do that to make sure we accomplish our goal because we have made commitments to the towns we have told that we will this year visit them and we cannot at this last minute back out from it. Everybody agreed with me and everybody sacrificed, I sacrificed a lot and everybody sacrificed because to come here and pay your bills, everybody paid flight ticket, everybody paid their hotel bills, that is a lot of sacrifice.

"But it is more than that, we secured security from the IG's office from Abuja and security alone cost us about NI.l million, what it involves is when we paid their lodging, their feeding for the 10 days everything came up to about NI.I million and paid their transportation back to Abuja. We could do better in the future by going to local police here in Awka, but we didn't have enough time to prepare this, so we chose to go to the IG's office in Abuja and they came with us from Abuja to Awka and spent the whole 10 to 11 days with us. Then other transportation, we rented the buses we used for the mission and just to rent the buses alone cost us about N1.6 million because we have to pay for their drivers, their lodging, their feeding, when you put all these together it adds up.

Because the state informed us at last minute that they will not support us financially, we have to do things in a rush and doing it in a rush elevated the cost." On the mission's experience in the communities, the ASA-USA interim boss said: "As I said, this is my first experience, this is the first time I participated in the medical mission, I have financially supported the mission in the past but this is my first hand on the medical mission as the chairman. Going through the communities, the towns we visited, my biggest experience was that so many people who came to us said they have not seen a doctor for the past five years and this is the first time they were being exposed to tell a doctor this is my problem and that makes a big difference. And we saw people with different types of illnesses, some of the illnesses we have remedy for them and some we don't have, but at least we educated them on what to do and where to go for further treatment.

"Yes, it is a fact that we come once in a year, but once in a year is not enough because after we are done there are people that will come up with different types of illnesses, how are they going to be treated? That is an issue that needs to be looked into, but it is important for this mission to continue because it does bring help to our people and it helps a lot. Every life is important, if we can save one life then the money sent on this mission is worth it. There is a question of how do we sustain the continuity of the care we have provided? That is something we all have to look at, have to improve the process and how we can rehabilitate the general hospitals currently in progress, a lot of general hospitals are not in use any longer, then what can we do to rehabilitate them so that people who are not in good health can go there, so that it can be easily accessible because not everybody can afford all this high hospitals bills."

He disclosed that his association had spent a rough estimate of about N6 million for this year's mission, though he said they were still working on the budget. 
His words: "We are still working on the budget, but preliminary report, I am not including the cost of medication because we came here with over 200, 000 dollars worth of medications from US and some of them were bought at 50, 60 per cent discount from the manufacturers. Our cost from US has not been factored in, but our cost here in Nigeria right now is around N6 million which involved security which I mentioned earlier, transportation and the cost of the local volunteers. Most of the local volunteers we paid for their hotel accommodation because some of them live far away and we needed them here so that it won't affect the time we leave. We also paid for the security officers, their accommodation, the drivers, just as we paid the local volunteers, everybody was paid.

"Everywhere we went, they were elated, they were excited and the crowd was overwhelming, like when we went to Ogbunike, the crowd was overwhelming, it was over 1,500 people, their Igwe was excited. In face, aditinal rulel entitied with us and even the traditional ruler of Ifitedunu, Igwe Dr. Chukwuemeka, a physician worked with us throughout. Igwe Nteje, Igwe Rowland Odegbo was wonderful." Looking at the way forward Nwabude said: "We as ASA-USA need to evaluate our accomplishment and everything needed to be re-tooled and know how we can do it better and how we can provide better service. Our service was superb, but we can do better and also look at how we can reduce the cost."

By Geoffrey Anyanwu,
Daily Sun