Charles Segun Adegbite
The Head of Occupational Health and Safety Units of the Ogun State Ministry of Health, Dr. Festus Adetonwa, has commended the management of Everest Metal Nigeria Limited for organising a free medical checkup for over 500 members of its staff.
Business Development Manager of the firm, Naresh Prasad Gupta, spoke on why they embarked on the programme.
Gupta said: “We’re doing a free medical checkup.
“Not only this year.
“Every year, we have been doing it for the communities around us.
“We think it’s a necessary thing to do.
“It’s for our staff health benefits and the health benefits of the community and the company as well.”
Everest Metal Nigeria Limited, manufacturer of lead ingot, copper ingot and aluminium alloys, has been holding the free medical screening and providing free drugs for many residents of its host communities annually, before taking this additional steps in spite of having a clinic in the factory that attends to the medical needs of its workforce.
Dr. Adetonwa, who was at the event as a representative of the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, said: “It’s good.
“Like I have said, what we are here to do is a serious business.
“You can see that they have a lot of medical personnel on the ground.
“And it shows the seriousness on the part of the team that are coming here to work.
“And we believe that this will not take a longer time.
“And when the results are out, we would try to liaise with them (the company) to see what are the ways that they can help.”
Adetonwa spoke shortly after giving a brief lecture on how the staff of the company can live a healthy lifestyle and make use of all preventive tools available in the factory.
Adetonwa, who is also the General Secretary of the Nigeria Medical Association in Ogun State, noted that he was there on occupational health and safety assignment.
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A news blogger had published a report last week, regarded as misleading, on the death of four workers of the company who died on different days, while not on duty, in their various homes.
The blogger allegedly linked the death with hazardous conditions of the dust department of the factory, which the company regarded as not only being misleading, but lacked proper investigations and very malicious.
Experts pointed out negligence on the part of many of the factory workers who trivialised the use of face masks, helmets and other hazard preventive tools when on duty.
This necessitated the need for proper education on occupational health during the medical screening, which the government medical expert , Dr. Adetonwa, carried out at the beginning of the programme.
He enlightened the workers on the need for them to take personal responsibilities for their life by engaging in periodic medical checkup and use of Personal Preventive Equipment made available by the company in their workplace.
He disclosed to the listening audience that what causes death most of the time isn’t the sickness, but lackadaisical attitude of people towards sicknesses, when it’s still in the early stage.
One of the managers of the company, Sanjay Das, who was at the event held inside the company’s premises along Ikorodu/Sagamu Road in Ogijo, Ogun State, said it was part of “our CSR (Community Social Responsibility) for the health benefits of our staff and interested members of the community”.
A Senior Medical Officer 1 from a teaching hospital, Dr. Sunday Oluwaseun Abdul, who led a team of medical professionals to the company to carry out the medical screening, with dispensing of drugs and its administration, advised the workers to bear in mind always that all professions and trades have their own hazards.
Speaking in an interview there, Abdul said: “They should therefore make use of preventive measures available like: gloves, face masks, helmets, etc to protect themselves against hazards in the company.”
He expressed concern over the challenges the company and their staff have been facing: “We faced a lot of challenges because our people (the average Nigerian workers) have been blindfolded by quack medical personnel for a long time, telling them that all the ailments that they have are mere typhoid and malaria.”
The medical expert urged them to always remember that one doesn’t die in a day, it’s a gradual process.
Abdul therefore admonished them to be conscious of the fact they’re not superhuman.
In view of this fact, they shouldn’t trivialise their health conditions, if it’s deteriorating, by just believing that nothing bad can happen to them, while refusing to take responsibility for its management.
The programme started at 9am, with provision and dispensing of a lot of drugs such as antimalarial, analgesic, drugs for various infections, especially respiratory tract infections.
Some of them were placed on antibiotics.
They also collected their sputum to test them in the laboratory for tuberculosis.
The Human Resources Manager, Prince Adebayo Akinde, disclosed that over 500 staff members at all levels and contractors benefited from the programme.
Dr. Abdul said: “We have been here since morning, attending to the people, counseling them on the problem of diabetes, High Blood Pressure and other ailments and the need for them to consult a qualified physician, whenever they’re sick.”
The Environmental Health Officer, Sagamu Local Government Area, Adewale Omelaja, who visited the place with his team on normal environmental assessment, said: “I have interviewed the head of the medical team, Dr. Oluwaseun Abdul, and he has explained some of the ailments that some of the workers had, but which they didn’t know.”
While expressing his satisfaction at this new development, the Safety Officer of Everest Metal, Ayodele Bankole, declared the programme as “a good exercise and very impressive, which we really appreciate and want the company to be doing regularly.
“Not only does it build the morale of the workers, it will actually help in making them to be more productive.
“This will bring a good returns to the company.
“Once the workers are healthier, they will be more productive.”
Bankole advised the workers to be more concerned about their health conditions.
He added: “They shouldn’t wait until this type of programme is organised before they examine their health conditions.
“They should be doing regular medical checkup to know the state of their health.
“The company has a clinic within the company premises, which they can visit instead of being careless with their health and dying in silence.
“They should use the drugs given to them religiously and not wait until they are told to do so.”
The Chairman of the EMNL workers Union, Comrade Kamar Oyebisi, said: “What they did today, as the workers representative, I can assure you that the workers are happy.”
Oyebisi, who is also a Supervisor in the company, said: “It’s one of the things they (workers) have been looking forward to have.
“I will encourage the management to let it continue and organise it at regular intervals because not only would it boost their (staff) morale, it will also increase their productivity, once they’re healthier and remain so.”
On March 18, this year, Saturday Sun newspaper published on its Page 5 one of the free medical programmes that Everest Metal Nigeria Limited organised for residents of the host communities: Oruku and Ipetoro, every year, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities to the people.
Das had said in an interview at the event: “We are happy organising this.
“Although we did not know there would be such a large turnout of people.”
On the amount spent on the programme, he said: “The money spent on this programme is not the important factor here, because we are talking of human life and human health.
“We value human life than money.
“The important factor here is that my workers should remain healthy.
“And in the course of time, they will be able to contribute to the society and the company as well.”
Among the medical team that carried out the free medical exercise were Dr. Adekunle Ajayi; David Rasaki, a seasoned nurse in a teaching hospital; pharmacists; and other competent medical personnel.
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