Thousands to Benefit From Free Healthcare in Cross River State

November 15, 2023216 views0

Thousands to Benefit From Free Healthcare in Cross River State

2023-11-15T10:44:56+01:00

By Church News

At least 2000 members of the Ugep community in Cross River State would benefit from the free medical outreach to be embarked on by Dr Joseph Tarkon, presiding Pastor of the City of David Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Atlanta, Georgia, USA.This was made known during Tarkon’s visit to CEE-HOPE’s office in Lagos.The medical outreach which will be held on December 13 to 16 is part of the weeklong events to be held in Ugep, the largest village in West Africa, through the platform of Vital Health International, a nonprofit organisation founded by Tarkon, a native of Ikom, also in Cross River, who left Nigeria for the U.S. decades ago.Tarkon who expressed displeasure over the consequent avoidable death rates in the country and how the socio-economic conditions affect access to quality healthcare, noted: “My hope is that with a community like Ugep, and with the number of doctors we have, we may be seeing about 1,000 people a day. So if we see 2,000 people during those two days that will be great.”He, however, stressed that part of the major problems of Nigeria and other African countries was leadership, making known that there would also be leadership training before the medical outreach.The CEO of Redeemer’s Medical Center (RMC), a not-for-profit community clinic that offers medical services to needy residents of Georgia, USA, further stated: “I come from Cross River, so I am familiar with some of the socio-economic issues there. There are three things we want to accomplish.“One, we will be doing leadership training. One of the issues I found across Africa. In fact that is the greatest problem we have in Africa and Nigeria. And that is leadership development. So, we are doing leadership training.“Then on Thursday, December 14 morning through evening and on Friday morning, there will be a medical mission component, and we will be addressing medical issues.“We are working in collaboration with the General Hospital in Ugep. I have been there. I have spoken to doctors. I have some doctors who are coming with me from the U.S. We will be seeing patients with routine medical issues.“We will also do minor surgeries. You know for the layman, every surgery is not minor. Hernia, appendix, and some simple masses here and there, abscess incision and all that.“On Friday evening and Saturday evening, we are having evangelistic outreach where we will be preaching the word of God, praying for the sick, and providing good music. Gospel artists are going to be coming and local ministers will also be there.”ALSO READ: Archbishop Duncan–Williams Set to Host IMPACT 2023