By Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement in the Southeast region of Nigeria, Barr. Chioma Nweze has launched free medical services and tailoring training exercises for the citizens of the region.
While flagging off the four months free tailoring training exercise with start-up grants titled “Skill-up Southeast Agenda” for the citizens of the region, yesterday at David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, DUFUHS Uburu, Nweze said all the communities in the region would benefit from both the free medical exercise and tailoring empowerment programmes.
She emphasized that the tailoring training was aimed at unveiling the fashion potential in Igbo-land and reiterated the commitment of her office to launch other skill acquisition programmes that would make the citizens of the region self-reliant and overcome economic challenges.
Nweze explained that the medical services involved cancer screening for six months, eye tests and eyeglasses for the first two hundred persons, and dialysis for one year free of charge respectively. She noted that the free medical programme was organized in partnership with David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, DUFUHS Uburu in Ohaozara LGA of Ebonyi State.
Nweze said: “We mark a significant milestone in our quest to improve the health and wellbeing of our people. We recognize that access to quality healthcare is a fundamental human right, and it is our responsibility to ensure that every individual in the South East has access to it, regardless of their background or financial situation.
“Our participants will be selected from each of the 97 Local Government Areas in the Southeast, ensuring that every community is represented. We believe that by providing our youths with the necessary skills and resources, we can create a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come.
“We are not only empowering our youths through skills acquisition, but we are also providing them with the opportunity to develop business plans and pitch their ideas. This will enable them to become entrepreneurs and job creators, contributing to the economic growth and development of our region.
“As we launch this programme today, we are filled with hope and optimism for the future. We are confident that our participants in the “Skill-Up” South East programme will excel in their chosen fields because they are ambassadors of our region and have name brands that we will patronize.”
She, however, vowed to boost the economic growth and development of the Southeast Skill-Up, Southeast free training and health treatment programmes, and the initiatives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
She applauded President Bola Tinubu for showing a sense of inclusive governance to South East, thanked the Minister of Works, Senator David Umah, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru and other prominent stakeholders in the Southeast region for their contributions towards the progress and development of the region.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of DUFUHS, Prof. Jesse Uneke said: “At the DUFUHS cancer centre, a total of 207 cancer patients have so far been treated. Of this number, 88(42.5%) were males, while 119 (57.5%) were females. A total of 107 (51.7%) of the patients were aged between 40 years and 69 years old.
“The commonest cancer was breast cancer 53 (25.6%), prostrate cancer 43 (20.8%)” and commended the SSA on community engagement South East region for organizing free medical programs the people of the region, “A total of 600 people have benefited from the free eye test and free eyeglasses.”
