The recently formed Rotary Club of Banana Island (RCBI) has extended medical assistance to a cluster of remote island villages in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Community Service Health Intervention undertaken under the leadership of RCBI’s newly-elected Charter President, Mrs Anita Senan, marked the formal debut of the club.
The medical outreach, initiated by Rotarian Mrs Mickey de Jong-van Veldhoven and adopted by RCBI, targeted a cluster of island villages, namely, Agaja Beach, Agaja Village, Okogbado (Alagutan), and Igbolobi, collectively called the Agaja Beach Village, which is situated about 45 minutes by speed boat from Victoria Island, Lagos.
The islands are inhabited by around 1,450 people according to the Chiefs of the 4 host communities- consisting of a mix of 600 males and 850 females.
According to the Charter President, Mrs Senan, “given that there are no primary or secondary health facilities on any of the islands we at RCBI decided to join hands with Mrs de Jong to provide the inhabitants with a mix of broad-spectrum medical interventions consisting of vaccinations for children up to the age of 14 years, cataract screening, and free medicines for a range of prevalent health conditions and tropical infections across age groups.”
RCBI was supported in the exercise by the Paras Medicare Int ’Ltd, Indo Eye Foundation (through the intervention of Rotary Club of Palm Grove), The Eye Doctors, Bona Specialist Dental and Implant Center, The Serving Hand Society For The Empowerment Of Less Privileged Persons and Sam Pharmaceuticals.
The Medical Camp which was held on the 3rd of September 2022, witnessed a gathering of 400 plus adults and children from all the village communities.
Of the 180 treated, 80 were hypertensive, 10 were diabetic and the rest were diagnosed with different diseases such as malaria, typhoid, ulcers and allergies.
In addition, medical personnel also screened the villagers for oral health and eye-related problems.
The medical team found that about 27 patients had significantly reduced visual acuity due to cataract, 3 had advanced Glaucoma, 10 had allergic conjunctivitis and about 16 were diagnosed with more serious problems involving biopsy, excision and grafting.
Many of the patients were provided free sunglasses.
The dental team treated 20 patients for decayed teeth leading to periapical infection, while many others were given free medical advice on their oral health.
Charter President, Mrs Senan expressed gratitude to Mrs Mickey de Jong-van Veldhoven, who organized the Beach house to set up the medical camp, goodies for villagers, sunglasses for patients, the boats and the security for the entire trip, as well as other donors and volunteers who played various roles in the success of the outreach.
A private pharmaceutical company, Sam Pharmaceuticals, set up a counter where medications worth N130,000 were dispensed to the patients as prescribed by the onsite doctors free of charge. The company also donated a boat for the trip.
Cholera Vaccinations worth N200,000 were donated by Serving Hands Society for the empowerment of the less privileged persons.
Medical doctors who gave voluntary service at the camp included Dr Arundhuti Roy Choudhury M.D. (Physician and Paediatrician), Paras Medicare Int’l Ltd, along with her team of nurses Buki, Tayo and Nelson; Dr Shumita Sen, Dentist Bona Specialist and Implant Center, Dr Marygold Okiyi and Dr Collins Ezeh, from the Eye Doctors; Optometrist, Nmesoma Gracious Emma Ochu from the Indo Eye Foundation; and Mrs. Vandana Choksi Patel.
On hand to support the Charter President were Rotarians Mickey and Marno de Jong-van Veldhoven; Charles Jenarius, who is the Foundation Chair and Dr Arundahuti Roy Choudhary, who also serves as the Service Chair for RCBI.
“In consonance with the Rotary’s theme for this year, we imagine a transformed Agaja Village. We will need to set up a more permanent medical facility to cater to the health-related needs of the communities. To this extent we took along some experts in the fields of solar power and structural engineering to evaluate the feasibility of putting up a health centre and other related critical infrastructure.
“Till then we will continue to hold regular medical camps both as a follow up as well as to provide succour to new patients”, said Mrs. Anita Senan, the Charter President of RCBI.
