Afe Babalola Flags Off Multimillion Naira Free Health Scheme for Ekiti Residents

As part of his philanthropic gesture, the founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola has flagged off a two week multi million naira free health services for the residents of  Ekiti State.

The free health scheme which took off on Monday at the premises of Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti and expected to last for two weeks was targeted at pregnant women, children and the aged people within the state.

The programmes being bankrolled by Afe Babalola was an initiative conceived by him in order not to limit his philanthropic gesture to empowerment alone as he has been doing before, but also to ensure that needs of some other venerable group of people in Ekiti are met health wise.

Speaking with reporters as residents were receiving free treatment, Provost ABUAD College of Medicine and Health Services, Prof. Olurotimi Sanya, who disclosed that the cost implication of the progeamme would not be less than N10 Million naira added that it was borne out of Babalola’s philanthropy to make life easier for the ordinary people.

The Provost explained that the free treatment and drugs given to beneficiaries was the first stage of the programme adding that those who critical cases would be referred to specialists to be treated at highly subsidized rates.

Sanya explained: “This programme is a brainchild of Aare Afe Babalola and it was in fulfillment of the ‘town and gown’ relationship between the university and the community. The Founder believes that there are many areas the university can have positive impact on the immediate environment.

“This is a collaboration between ABUAD College of Medicine and Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti and it is free of charge. The patients are examined free and given drugs free. If we discover people who need surgical operations will be referred to specialists and in that case, it cannot be completely free but will be highly subsidized.

“We are targeting three groups-pregnant women, children and the aged people while those who don’t belong to these groups will equally be attended to. We will keep on attending to needy patients as they come because we don’t have any particular number in mind as we cannot limit the number of people coming to benefit. But we will attend to not less than 300 persons per day.”

The programme flagged off as early as 9:00 am on Monday attended to hundreds of people who trooped out en masse to benefit from the free health mission while Medical doctors and ABUAD medical students who are having their training at FTH, Ido Ekiti were mobilized for the exercise in which beneficiaries received treatment and received drugs free.

Many of the beneficiaries prayed for Babalola for the gesture which they said had saved them from dying from ailments like hypertension, diabetes, eye problems, malaria, among others, while some described this as timing saying “this gesture has really assisted and saved some of us who were although suffering in silence but afraid of visiting hospital for fear of lack of money to treat or take care of our ailments.”

ABUAD Vice Chancellor, Prof. Michael Ajisafe, who addressed the gathering urged the people of Ido and neighbouring communities to come out the more and benefit from free medical scheme, assuring that everybody that come would be attended to within the two weeks in respective of their tribe.

Ajisafe who conveyed Afe Babalola’s message to the people pleaded that “Baba Afe could not be not be physically present at the programme because of some exigencies” adding that the programme would boost the standard of living of a the populace, and urged beneficiaries to inform family members and neighbours to utilize the opportunity.

While speaking on the other developmental programmes of the University, Ajisafe hinted that ABUAD is breaking new grounds in the field of medicine with the construction of a world class teaching hospital at ABUAD to train medical personnel and provide qualitative healthcare delivery