The Accord candidate for Oyo South Senatorial District, Mr Kolapo Kola-Daisi, has promised to make the constituents’ health and education his top priorities when elected.
Kola-Daisi made the declaration while launching a three-day free medical outreach in Ibadan.
He stated that the success of any government can be measured by how seriously it treats the issues of health and education.
The Oyo South senatorial candidate disclosed that the medical outreach, which no fewer than 10,000 people in the senatorial district will benefit, is his own way of prioritising one of these sectors.
He stressed that the medical outreach was one of his “Jeka Dasi” projects for the people of his senatorial district, adding that it would be done every year when he is elected as the Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District.
While emphasising that a healthy constituents should be one of the goals facilitated as a true representative of the people, Kola-Daisi said the timing for the outreach was good given the stress many have been experiencing as a result of nationwide cash and fuel scarcity.
“We want to help thousands of people with their health issues. This exercise would be ongoing and would be repeated every year when we get to the office. To keep it running, we will build an even better, more sustainable infrastructure around it. We’re even thinking about bringing medical outreach to people in their communities so they don’t have to travel far to get healthcare and treatments.
“Our people need to be healthy and this will be part of our mandate when we get to the office because it is an intervention that I know is necessary,” he said.
Dr. Sabu George, team leader from Medical Aid for Africa and one of the six foreign doctors who came for the outreach, said that another major goal of the outreach was to raise awareness about hypertension and the importance of taking recommended medicines on a regular basis.
“One of the biggest challenges we have seen is that people believe hypertension is a disease someone can treat a little bit of time because it doesn’t have specific symptoms. Many people stop taking the medication because they believe it has cured them.
“Once diagnosed, people must understand that they have the silent killer disease. They must strictly adhere to the medication, and they must be aware that the medication is not expensive and can be obtained locally,” George said.
In his remarks, Director General of Kolapo Kola-Daisi Campaign Organisation, Chief Sunday Babalola, stated that the outreach serves as a reminder of one of Kola-Daisi’s programmes, which is free healthcare for women and children in the constituency.
Six visiting physicians with specialisations in cardiology, general medicine and dentistry are headlining the outreach, as well as support from 14 volunteering doctors from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The three-day outreach will cater for everyone who attends, particularly constituents from the nine local governments in Oyo South, with special focus on treating hypertension and diabetes. There will also be general consultation and medical aid for general illnesses.
