Occupational therapist urges govt to invest in health care

 

A United Kingdom-trained Nigerian occupational therapist, Miss. Adedolapo Adewole, has called on government at all levels to make investment in the health care sector a priority.
Speaking yesterday in Ikeja where she offered free medical tests to persons above 50 years, Adewole said there “will be no country if the citizens are not well.”
“Government needs to invest a lot in the health sector because the people make a nation. If the people are not well, there is no nation. You see people flying out of Nigeria everyday for medical check-up. These are the ones that can afford it, but the ones who cannot afford get stuck here,” she said.
Speaking on the free medical check-up, Adewole said the aim was to enable older adults, 50 years and above have their blood, pulse rates, respiration rates, body mass index and blood sugar checked.
“I believe health is wealth; if you look after yourself, you get good result. Every day, people die from diabetes, high blood pressure. I want people to be more conscious of their health; I want people to do medical check-ups regularly. There are lots of things that have not been diagnosed. The earlier we diagnose issues the better and quicker it is to deal with the situation.”
Continuing, she said: “Ours is to create awareness, let people know their health status. By the time they know that, there are some non-governmental organisations that can subsidise treatment. In future, we are looking at a situation in which we will be able to partner with government and they will subsidise the treatment.”

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