By Joshua Oladipo
Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun on Wednesday opened the second edition of free Imole Medical and Surgical outreach in Ilesa to alleviate the medical challenges faced by the people .
Th News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first phase of the outreach was held between February and April with about 22,000 citizens benefitting from surgeries and medical care.
Adeleke said the outreach would take place in six centres across the zone with two from each senatorial district in order to reduced the economic burden of Osun citizens.
He said that his Commissioner for Health had been directed to work out plans to make the outreach a regular feature of his administration .
” I take this opportunity to direct the Commissioner for Health to work out a plan to make this outreach a regular feature of this administration.
” The Ministry should create a holistic agenda in this respect. The programme should be mainstreamed across state health institutions,” Adeleke said.
According to him, the implementation of the directive will make the outreach more sustainable, more inclusive and expand the scope of benefit.
Adeleke urged the commissioner, special advisers, the boards and the management of the state health institutions to integrate the private sector in the expanded programmes.
” This will expand funding capacity and eventually deepen the delivery capacity of stakeholders.
The governor praised members of the committee and health workers under the leadership of Prof. Peter Olaitan for their sacrifices in the call to duty.
Adeleke , however , used the avenue to thank all party faithful for their presence and also sought the continuous support of Osun citizens.
The Commissioner for Health, Mr Jola Akintayo, praised the governor for the outreach with the believe that such initiative would reduce the health challenges faced by majority of the citizens in the state.
Akintayo called for more support from stakeholders to make the governor’s effort fruitful in alleviating the medical challenges of citizens.
NAN reports that the event witnessed the presence of officials from the Ministry of Health and Osun Teaching Hospital Board and other health agencies. ( NAN )
