Nonye Soludo offers free medical services to 5,000 persons
The Wife of Anambra State Governor, Dr Nonye Soludo, on Wednesday sponsored free health checks and eyes glasses for 5,000 widows, widowers, persons with disabilities and the aged in the state.
Soludo, founder of the Healthy Living Initiative, organised the free medical outreach and eye checks to mark her 54th birthday in Awka.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the beneficiaries had checks to verify their HIV status, blood pressure, blood sugar level and Body Mass Index as well as cataract and glaucoma.
She also distributed wheel chairs, tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, watermelon, onions, okro, carrot, lettuce and other vegetables seedlings to encourage backyard and organic farming in the state.
Addressing the beneficiaries, Soludo urged residents to embrace healthy lifestyle, backyard and organic farming to stay healthy, live longer and help reduce the cost of food items.
“The cost of food items is expensive in the market because many people no longer go to the farm and this is why we have food scarcity.
“We are distributing these seedlings so that everyone can begin to practice backyard farming to make food items surplus and the cost will reduce drastically.
“Again, it has to be organic farming to make the farm produce more nutritious, because using chemicals to farm can cause public health risks, ” she said.
She appreciated residents for coming out and celebrating her on her birthday.
In his remarks, Dr Afam Obidike, the state’s Commissioner for Health, urged residents to make regular health checks a lifestyle to prevent silent killer diseases and extend their life span.
Obidike appealed to residents to visit the healthcare centres within their vicinities as the state government had upgraded them with equipment and personnel.
He also appreciated the Governor’s wife for showing love to the vulnerable on her birthday.
