TheCable

Teen Ambassadors Foundation (TAF), a non-governmental organisation, on Saturday, organised a medical screening in Nasarawa state.

The medical intervention was held at DEMDAP Friendship Centre in Luvu Madaki, Karu LGA. 

The medics, who were on the ground, offered screening and treatment for malaria, typhoid, peptic ulcer, urinary tract infections, hypertension, diabetes, skin diseases, Hepatitis B and C infections and pelvic inflammatory diseases to residents in the communities, including women and children. 

Speaking on the purpose of the outreach, Paul Adiwu, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Foundation, said the medical outreach was the first the organisation executed. 

Adiwu said the outreach is to help residents know their health status and take appropriate medication. 

“We know the times we are living in now and sometimes basically we reach out to people, trying to provide food and other items that can sustain them, but we found out that even with the food some people cannot eat because of their health challenges and we felt it is good we come up with this initiative to have people tested for them to know what is happening to them and administer appropriate medication and that is why we cam with a team of medical experts to help us in that regard,” he said.

“I am from Plateau state, but if you are running an NGO, it is not meant just for your people where you come from, it is supposed to be for the whole nation or globally. So we chose this place because this is our office and to tell the whole world that we are doing this as a calling. Not that we are expecting anything in return.

“In terms of the medical outreach, this is the first time we are starting this. We run other programmes, but for the medical outreach, this is the first time we are introducing it, and God help us, it is something we want to sustain quarterly.

“The reason why we are sure of sustaining it is that this is something that is from our little savings and with support from a few spirited individuals. We are not relying on the international community or other development partners to fund this. That is why we are sure we can sustain it because we can only do with what we have. We deal with what we have. 

“We want to call on other NGOs to try as much as possible to limit their programmes to what they can afford because a lot of NGOs are folding up or cannot sustain their programmes because they are depending on international development partners and that is why sometimes they start a programme they cannot sustain. So we have to learn to make do with what we have.

“We sent out notices to the residents of this community and other adjoining communities. It was not for a class of people. So everybody that was able to get a notification because it was announced on different fora and people coming from communities in this vicinity. So it was not meant for a particular set of people. We estimated 700 people based on the medication and the testing kits and all the facilities we came here with.”