Medical missions to the rescue in Nigeria’s healthcare

..Offers affordable care to people in the grassroots

The sustainability and viability of a nation’s economic and social growth depend largely on vibrant healthcare sector of that nation. However, no nation can maintain a steady economic growth in the absence of an adequate healthcare system. 

Over the years, providing adequate health care to Nigerians has remained a daunting challenge previous administrations in the past have devised several means to address. While infant mortality has dropped to single digits per thousand births in countries with adequate and efficient healthcare systems, mortality indices in Nigeria is close to 100 per thousand.

As improving Nigeria’s life expectancy is still seen as a tall dream, unsatisfactory and inadequate access to essential drugs and other healthcare services, has painted the nation in bad light. Individuals who throng primary healthcare centres, which is the entry point into the nation’s health services are more often than not are greeted with either inadequate access to essential drugs or empty building without medical personnel to administer medicare.

The worst hit are indigent individuals who cannot be able to afford the cost of medicare. They however resort to one form of divine favour or resign to fate. In view of these challenges, providing free quality medical care to the indigent and under-privileged in rural areas-since they form a large bulk of the population-to those who could not afford it through medical missions has been seen by health experts as a succor towards improving the health of these individuals.

An organisation that have taken the bull by the horn to ensure that the poor and needy Nigerians have access to quality healthcare without them having to pay a dime carry is ‘We care missions’. The organisation which focus on managing missionary works in health care as well as educating the poor and vulnerable population in rural communities since 2007 has impacted positively on the lives of more than 12, 000 during its yearly medical missions.

In an interview with Fatima Madus, coordinator, We care Missions, Madus revealed that medical care is scarce in some parts of the country, especially in the rural areas where large numbers of people die needlessly for lack of basic medical care.

While acknowledging the fact that abject poverty is a contributory factor, Madus disclosed that many of these people have never been to a doctor’s clinic for wellness screening or for diagnosis of their ailments, there is a trade-off between purchase of basic necessity and making a visit to the doctor’s office.

She maintained that its yearly medical missions which provide an opportunity for people to access healthcare doesn’t stop at providing consultation but also surgical interventions such as cataract, etc. when needed.

According to her “We Care Mission’s health care team provides diagnosis and treatment for diabetes and hypertension. As part of long term goals for the health screening, the volunteer team will continue to provide medical education on prevention, management of diabetes, hypertension and malaria.

“Don’t forget that we have conducted monthly screenings for five villages in Etsakor local government area of 

Edo State –Nigeria. Medical services rendered include wellness screening for diabetes, hypertension, malaria and health care education. Others include free medication to manage both acute and chronic conditions, eye examinations, minor and major surgery (including cataract surgery). These health services we intend to provide as from Monday 30^th May to June 3^rd 2011.

“We were successful in recruiting dedicated volunteers for our medical outreach; we significantly exceeded our 2007 record as indicated by attached statistics. Our relationship with the community is growing and we have laid foundation for a sustainable health care provision for the poor and disadvantaged,” Madus stated.

There is no gain saying that medical mission is a comprehensive health care initiative that covers primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention, introduced in a quest to find ways to take health care to the grassroots and under-served areas of the state.

For stakeholders in the health sector, health mission is particularly significant because it assists the government in its efforts at bringing, to the minimum, the number of untimely deaths experienced in the country at a time the target for achieving the MDG is just four years away.

For Madus “It is believed that the current medical mission embarked upon by ‘We Care Mission’ will go a long way in complimenting the normal health delivery services with the objective of addressing the pressing health issues of the rural communities as part of an overall effort geared towards tackling the challenges in the health sector.

“Beneficiaries of the medical mission include the most vulnerable members of the population at the grassroots such as the elderly, children, youth and pregnant women who are prone to infections and other maternal and child health-related diseases,” Madus concluded.

Though questions as to how much medical missions could accomplish beyond providing temporary intervention is the more reason why the provision of permanent structures and enduring medical practices in Nigeria is key in ensuring that everyone have access to healthcare no matter the terrain.

Perhaps the best path to follow in achieving this goal is to work with private partners – oil companies, multinational corporations, banking institutions, funding agencies, and philanthropists – to build, equip, and staff one hospital at a time. Such a hospital or hospitals could function as the base for future medical missions, until such a time when such missions are no longer necessary.

It will be recalled that various natural disasters around the globe have highlighted the need and utility of medical missions and brought to the forefront, prevailing challenges. The earthquake disaster in Haiti was massive, but smaller disasters also happen daily. We need to put a functional healthcare system in place, no matter how small.

In the views of Jide Idris, Commissioner for Health Lagos state, while on a recent Eko Free Health Mission “medical mission Mission will also supplement government's formal health structures at the grassroots level as well as provide alternative avenues of providing secondary medical care to the ailing within the time frame of operation.

“Since government cannot wait until infrastructure, equipment and manpower championed by the health reform are ready before people have access to qualitative and affordable healthcare service, free medical missions will serve as alternative source of healthcare delivery access especially to the people at the grassroots,” he concluded.