Indian firm, Monarch Steel Mill Ltd rescues over 100 Nigerians from sudden death.
... Offered free medical treatments to numerous others in Ogun community.
By Charles Segun Adegbite
A Nigeria based Indian company, Monarch Steel Mill Ltd, has rescued over hundred people from looming sudden death, strokes and other life threatening medical crises in Ipetoro and Oruku communities, near Ogijo, in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, via a free medical outreach program it organised recently for the residents there.
The outreach programme carried out by a medical team from Lagos State was sponsored by the company to conduct free medical tests like: Blood pressure levels, Malaria diagnosis, eye screening, Hepatitis and Blood Sugar Levels, e.t.c..
They also dispensed free drugs to each patient appropriately and provided free reading glasses for over four hundred others who needed them.
Dr Ahmed Ajibade who led the medical team to the communities disclosed that many of the residents who came for the programme might just die suddenly or get paralyzed, if they have not attended it, because of the silent killer diseases they were living with unknowingly.
"From my observation, most of them were hypertensive and were not even aware of it. You know hypertension is a silent killer in which if you don't do medical test you won't know you are having it.
"A lot of them were not aware at all that they were living with such life threatening health issue, which is very dangerous, because they could just collapse and die," Dr Ajibade explained.
"From my observation, most of them were hypertensive and were not even aware of it. You know hypertension is a silent killer in which if you don't do medical test you won't know you are having it.
According to him, there were a lot of cases of people having high blood pressure, diabetes and other terminal diseases. The free outreach helped those people to know their medical conditions and the need to start managing their health well. He then advised the people to always go for medical check up every two months or at least once in six months.
Earlier, at the commencement of the outreach, a leading nurse among the medical personnel, Mrs. Lydia Akinyemi, gave a health talk. She enlightened the people who attended the outreach on the causes of blood pressure and how to prevent it. She also spoke on ulcer and how to prevent it.
A lot of them were not aware at all that they were living with such life threatening health issue, which is very dangerous, because they could just collapse and die," Dr Ajibade
She later confirmed in an interview that high blood pressure, diabetes and other life threatening illnesses were very prevalent among the patients. Malaria and ulcers, according to her, were other common ailments diagnosed among the patients. She advised them to reduce stress. And for the ulcer patients, she counselled them to avoid intakes of pepperish food. She as well urged everyone to avoid self medication and use their drugs religiously.
The Head of Human Resources/ Administrative Manager of Monarch Steel Mill Ltd, Mr Sunday Aladeniyi, who spoke on behalf of the General Manager of the company, disclosed that the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to have good relationships with the two hosting communities.
Mr Aladeniyi explained that this free medical outreach was one of the Community Social Responsibilities, CSR, they carry out in the communities. He added that they had provided 100 concrete electric poles and a transformer for the electrification of the two communities in the previous years.
These were in addition to giving the communities many bags of rice as palliatives to share among the CDAs during the last Christmas/New Year season; among other CSR projects.
The spokesman for the two communities, Pastor Rufus Noel, expressed satisfaction about the turnout of people for the program. He disclosed that about 280 children and youths came out for the outreach, while 340 adults also benefited from the outreach.
He disclosed that the economic situation in the country has caused a lot of people to find it difficult to take care of their health. So, when they heard about the medical outreach the people thronged the place as early as 6:30 am, for the programme that was to start by 9am.
Pastor Noel attributed the failure of many of these patients to attend hospital in Ikorodu to seek serious medical attention, to their poor financial condition. He disclosed that the environmental pollution was what subjected the residents of these communities to various health challenges.
Shedding light on the contributions of the company, Pastor Rufus, disclosed that it was "the failure of government to provide the needed social amenities that led to their meetings with the Management of the company on the need for the organisation to be carrying out her CSR to help the people.
He however commended the management of Monarch Steel Mill Ltd for what they've been doing lately to alleviate the challenges of the community dwellers.
"the failure of government to provide the needed social amenities that led to their meetings with the Management of the company on the need for the organisation to be carrying out her CSR to help the people.
The community head of Ipetoro, Baale Mojeed Olanipekun expressed his appreciation of the outreach and commended the company for the efforts, saying, " other companies in this community should emulate them".
He urged the people, especially the youths, "should always contact him first to inform him of any grievance or issues they are not pleased with instead of storming those companies in protest over any complaint, because the companies also have a lot of their business responsibilities they're established for, to make their investors enjoy their investment," he said.
The general chairman of Ipetoro Community Development Associations, CDAs, Comrade David Okediya, spoke about the series of efforts made in the past by the CDAs leaders for the companies in their community to address some of the environmental pollution from those companies like: air and water pollution, which were menace to people's health in the communities.
He commended the management of Monarch Steel Mill Ltd. for their efforts in addressing those health hazards and coming out with project like this to alleviate people's sufferings.
Other people who spoke at the event, like: Imam Abdul Rahman Ahmed, who is an adviser to the Oruku CDA noted that the outreach was timely, especially during this Ramadan season.
According to him, "Quran encourages us to take care of our health. And whoever helps the poor and less privileged by saving their lives through provision of this kind of medical succour or taking care of their health in whatever way, will surely be rewarded by almighty Allah." He explained.
One Mrs Oluwayemisi Odeyemi who came for eye screening and treatment, along with her children, expressed gratitude for the timely intervention. She disclosed that she moved to the community from Lagos State when her husband lost his job and her own catering business was not enough to meet the high standard of living in their previous residential environment.
Their poor financial condition made it difficult for her to go for medical treatment, even as she constantly feel dizzy because of her eyes conditions and other underlying health issues. She couldn't give her children the medical care needed as well, because she was still in the level of struggling to feed them; living from hands to mouth.
She consequently felt relieved with the free drugs given to them after the free medical screening. She therefore expressed gratitude to the organisers of the program and the company that facilitated it.
While speaking on the outreach, Mr Aladeniyi disclosed that the company also engaged in grading of roads in the communities, because the residents kept on coming to seek for their interventions, as they saw such project as part of the CSR services.
He noted that the company has been rendering such services to the host communities annually, since they jointly signed the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, in 2019 for mutual coexistence.
He however described multiple taxation from federal, state and local governments as a major problem the company was facing. This, he said was affecting them a lot, because if the governments giving them such multiple taxation have been providing the necessary amenities for the people in the communities, the residents won't be coming to them for provision of such social amenities like roads, electricity and medical center, which he said were affecting the company's finance a lot.
He noted that if such multiple taxations from the three tiers of government can be harmonized and reduced, it will give them relief and help lessens the harsh economic conditions in which many companies are operating in the country. With that relief they will be able to take care of their staff's welfare more and engage in more capacity building for their workforce.
This free medical outreach was the first the company organised for the residents. Its impacts on the people was what let all the beneficiaries who spoke earlier, expressed their gratitude for it and requested for its sustenance.
Mr Aladeniyi added that they were already building a health center for the community. And in appreciation of the constant intervention and mediation of Pastor Rufus, the company Human Resources/ Administrative Manager commended this clergyman who is the communities' spokesman. He disclosed that he has helped a lot in building cordial relationships between the company and the residents.
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