About this event
Introduction:
The 1st quarter Medical Mission took place at the Ezenomi Autonomous Community Ozuagba in Ikeduru Local Govt. Area Imo State on the 6th of November 2015. The community is a rural setting bordered by Ngugo, Amakohia and Iho.
It has a population of about 500 people that are predominantly farmers and petty traders. Umueze Health Post built by the community in conjunction with the European Union is the only presence of a government owned health facility.
Prior to undertaking the medical mission, a scoping mission to the community and discussion with the Traditional Ruler HRH Eze Akalugwu, shows that the common medical ailments in the community are Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, Cataract, Malaria and Low back ache being an agrarian community.
The NAS medical Mission which was aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the masses involved the use of the vast human resources of the organization in diagnosing, treating and referral of clients that required further follow up or Surgical cases. It also afforded the children who have missed their immunization to get immunized and at same time deworming drugs and oral rehydration solutions were given to the children. Rapid screening for hypertension, diabetes mellitus and malaria were also carried out in assisting in the diagnosis of these common ailments in the community. Similarly, based on the prevalence of eye problems as told by the Traditional Leader of the community, ophthalmic services were also rendered to the community with dispensing of reading glasses.
Advocacy & Social Mobilization:
Advocacy was carried out to the Traditional Leader of the community and announcements for the Medical mission were carried out using the community based approach – town announcers and churches. The NAS Capoon’s live radio program on implementation day also brought many clients to the occasion.
Flag Off
The NAS medical mission was officially flagged off by the NAS Capoon and the Traditional Leader of the Community HRH Eze Akalugwu at about 14:00 Hrs though the team mobilized to the site and commenced implementation at 08:00 Hrs.
Implementation:
There were 2 registration and screening desks manned by 2 nurses each that screened the clients by observing their vital signs prior to assigning them to the Consulting Doctors and optometrist. Crowd controllers were used to control the crowd and arrange the clients into two groups; ophthalmic services and general medical consultation. The immunization desk attended to children that came for immunization services.
Patients that needed to have rapid diagnostics were sent to the Laboratory Scientist. Drugs were dispensed by the Pharmacy Technician while the Optometrist dispensed the reading glasses and eye drops.
The implementation commenced at 08:00 Hrs and finished at 17:00 Hrs after the last patient was attended to.
Personnel used:
- 4 Medical Doctors
- 1 Optometrist
- 7 Nurses
- 1 Laboratory Scientist
- 1 Pharmacy Technician
- 3 Crowd Controllers
Summary of Clients seen:
Total number of registered clients for General Medical Services = 289
Total number of registered clients for ophthalmic services = 230
Number of children immunized = 15
Demographics of Client that had Ophthalmic Services
Ophthalmic Services
Total No Registered: 230
| Sex | |
| Males | 110 |
| Females | 120 |
| Age Range | |
| 20 – 30 | 15 |
| 31 – 40 | 21 |
| 41 – 50 | 49 |
| 51 – 60 | 46 |
| 61 – 70 | 53 |
| 71 – 80 | 18 |
| 81 – 90 | 9 |
| Others | 19 |
Treatment Received:
218 Had refraction errors and had reading Glasses dispensed to them
35 had eye drops for various eye ailments ranging from conjunctivitis to foreign body and allergic reaction. Suspected glaucoma cases seen were referred for further management.
Demographics of Clients that had General Medical Treatment
Total No Registered: 289
| Sex | |
| Males | 84 |
| Females | 205 |
| Ages | |
| Adult Males | 70 |
| Male Children | 14 |
| Adult Females | 175 |
| Female Children | 30 |
Disease Spread
| Diagnosis | Number | Outcome |
| Malaria Alone | 150 | Treated |
| Hypertension | 34 | Treated & Referred |
| Diabetes | 5 | Treated |
| Peptic Ulcer Diseases | 19 | Treated |
| Toothache | 1 | Treated & Referred |
| Arthritis | 15 | Treated |
| Dermatitis | 1 | Treated |
| Helminthiasis | 5 | Treated |
| Pneumonia | 1 | Treated |
| Hypertension + Malaria | 17 | Treated & Referred |
| Hypertension + Diabetes | 5 | Treated & Referred |
| Malaria + Peptic Ulcer | 1 | Treated |
| Inguinal Hernia | 1 | Referred |
| Low Back Ache | 10 | Treated |
| Myalgia | 6 | Treated |
| Haemorrhoids | 3 | Treated & Referred |
| Abdominal Discomfort | 2 | Treated |
| Hypertension + Appendicitis | 1 | Treated & Referred |
| Upper Respiratory Tract Infection | 1 | Treated |
| Urinary Tract Infection | 2 | Advised to do a Urine M/C/S |
| Others which included: Autism (1) Breast Abscess (1) TB (1) Secondary Infertility (1) Bleeding (1) Pregnancy (4) |
10 | Referred after counselling |
| TOTAL | 289 |
Laboratory Services:
Total number of clients screened for Malaria = 48
Positive Results = 44
Total number screened for Random Blood Sugar = 9
Positive result for Diabetes Mellitus = 5
Immunization Services Rendered:
The immunization team from the Health Post were sent by the State Immunization Officer to use the opportunity of the NAS Medical mission to carry out immunization services to those who missed their immunization because of the industrial action by the State Health workers. 15 under one children had various types of Antigens ranging from Pentavalent vaccine, Injectable Polio vaccine to measles and yellow fever in line with their age and status of their routine immunization
Generally, the NAS Medical Mission was a good exercise as the community, which is a relatively poor community appreciated the efforts of NAS in reaching their medical needs through the mission. The Traditional Leader on behalf of the community expressed their appreciation to NAS and said: [su_quote cite=”Traditional Leader”]“This is the first of its kind in the history of my community for young men to come and render such humanitarian services to the community free of charge”[/su_quote]
NAS Medical Mission