Alhaji Ladan Baba, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Coordinator in Kano State, says 2,000 people will benefit from the scheme’s medical outreach in four local government areas of the state.
The coordinator made this known on Tuesday while launching the medical outreach at Kwa in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the gesture is part of the NYSC Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD) programme in the state.
He said that the programme was aimed at mobilising corps members to provide health intervention to the general public, especially those in the rural communities.
He explained that the intervention programme, which will last from Oct. 10 to 13, include diagnosis, treatment and referral when the need arises and proper preventive measures that would enhance health status of the people.
“We mobilise our corps members to those four local government areas; namely Minjibir, Kura, Wudil and Dawakin Tofa to render free medical services to rural dwellers on quarterly basis,’’ he said.
The coordinator further said that NYSC also impacted positively on people of the state through Community Development Services (CDS) particularly in the areas of Education, Health and Environmental Sanitation.
Baba said: “We initially planned to offer the medical outreach to 200 persons in each of the four local government areas, but with the turnout now of people, more than that can benefit.’’
He noted that several people from the rural areas suffer from various diseases and could not afford to seek medical help in hospitals due to financial constraints.
“That is why the NYSC came up with this initiative to assist people, especially the less privileged at the grassroots.
“Various diseases such as malaria, diabetes, cholera and typhoid and eye problems will be treated during the outreach,” Baba said.
The coordinator appealed to the benefiting communities to cooperate with the NYSC by availing themselves of the free medical service.
He said that in addition to the medical outreach, the scheme in Kano is targeting 140,000 U-Reporters before Dec. 31.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that U-report is a free SMS social monitoring tool for community participation programme initiated by the NYSC in collaboration with the UNICEF to address issues that the populace cares about.
In his remarks, the District Head of Dawakin Tofa, Alhaji Yusuf Nabahani, commended the NYSC for the gesture and called on wealthy individuals, government and private organisations to emulate the scheme.
Nabahani, who was represented by the Village Head of Kwa, described the medical outreach as a “welcome development” most especially with the recent outbreak of malaria in the state.