#IT was indeed a case of to whom much is given, much is expected, as Nigerian medical doctors and volunteers who live and practice in the United States, in collaboration with RCCG Grace Arena Parish, Lagos Island, sponsored a one-day free medical healthcare titled: Isale Eko Medical Mission (IEMM), to help the less privileged who cannot financially access hospital medications and healthcare centers in Lagos.
The RCCG Grace Arena Parish was last Saturday filled to capacity with people who had diverse medical challenges to see medical doctors who came all the way from California, Maryland, New York and others from Nigeria.
Pastor Philip Akinola, the RCCG Grace Arena Parish pastor, who also works in the oil sector as an administrator, said IEMM is part of a corporate social responsibility especially to Lagos Island where he is stationed from the church headquarters.
“We were actually sent to this neighborhood to impact lives and we have been doing this for a while.
“IEMM is a local one from this parish church but, RCCG has given instruction to every parish to ensure they impact the environment where they are located. So we have the mandate that came from the national and IEMM is our way of keying into the mandate.
“The parish is just six years old and our vision exceeds the primary assignment of sharing and preaching the Word of God, but to also impact lives by seeing to the well-being of the people within the Lagos Island environs.
“The generality of Lagos Island is in dire need of medical help, so coming here, I saw so many lives that need help, and many people come to the church from time to time seeking medical assistance, so we thought it would be a relieve to organise IEMM”.
He revealed that IEMM started in 2015 with over 1000 patients who were attended to by medical doctors, while this year’s outreach is the third attempt and people have been benefiting immensely from it.
“We are blessed to have supports that come in from outside Nigeria; we have medical team that came from America as volunteers and support with free consultations, treatments and medications.
“They volunteered to team up with us and cater for the cost, which has made the realization of our vision easy because most of the medications came from outside the country and we bought some here in Nigeria.”
Dr. Olabisi Jagun, an IEMM director who came from Maryland, USA said she has been practicing medicine for over 30years and have been leading medical missions to Nigeria, working with the Lagos State government for over 10years.
“We started IEMM four years ago and we have been here three times. For us, it is an honour to bring expert physicians from different specialties of medicine to come home and give back to our people.
“I’m impressed with the organisation of IEMM. Pastor Akinola has everything arranged very nicely, the patients flow very easily and we’re able to see a lot of patients,” she said.
She said most patients complain of diabetes and hypertension, while the children complain about malaria and other infections.
“Compared to the general public, I think most of the patients we see in Isale Eko are relatively healthy, which is wonderful.
“So the other things we emphasize is prevention, how to prevent health problems, and we advice people to have regular checkups so that even if they have serious medical problems, it can be picked up at a very early stage when it’s still manageable” she explained.
Dr. Jagun further said that coming all the way from Maryland has a lot more to do with giving back to Nigeria for all of God’s blessings, as almost all the medical doctors on ground grew up here.
“We have friends who practice Medicine abroad, so we announced that we wanted to go back home and American medical practitioners came all the way with us.
We also have a doctor from Uganda and we have a number of Nigerian physicians who are on seat today that were trained abroad, and others trained here.
“However, the overall concept is to give back to our society because to whom much is given, much is expected” she stated.
Mrs. Kehinde Taiwo, one of the patients who came for medical checkup, said she was very pleased with the medical advice and treatment given by the doctor who attended to her.
“I was given free drugs to treat my ailment and the doctor insisted I go for regular medical checkup on a two-week basis.
“I am very proud of what all the medical doctors and assistants on ground are doing, to be able to work hard to pull all these people that need help together and provide free healthcare for them, it is very charitable because all the volunteers as I heard are not paid, so this is something from the heart” she said.
Mrs. Prisca Nzagibe, who came all the way from Aba, said: “I was invited by a relation who is a nurse and lives here in Lagos to come see medical experts from abroad because of my health issues”.
“ I really appreciate the organisers of IEMM because the nurse and doctor that attended to me were kind and helped me resolve my medical crisis.”