We’ll build a healthier citizenry in Osun – Aregbesola

The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday reiterated his administration’s commitment to maintaining accelerated momentum on its mission to bring about a healthier citizenry in the state.
Aregbesola, at the official kick-off ceremony of the MTN Foundation Eyesight Restoration Intervention Scheme at the state hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, commended the foundation for its commitment to extending its milk of human kindness to the people of Osun.
He pointed out that the medical intervention scheme will involve the screening of 10,000 patients for cataracts and other ocular diseases; surgical operations on 2,000 cataract patients; distribution of reading glasses to 2,000 beneficiaries; and the giving out of 2,000 drug packs.
Aregbesola added: “The surgical interventions will rely on the skillful hands and the clever minds of experienced ophthalmic experts drawn from the Eye Foundation Hospital and the State Hospital.
“The screenings have been organised to take place simultaneously in the three senatorial zones of the state. The screening centres are the State Hospitals in Asubiaro, Ilesa and Iwo, while the surgical operations will be carried out at the State Hospital in Asubiaro.”
Aregbesola held that the medical intervention scheme had been preceded by government-organised advocacy support as well as media publicity to create awareness for and to enhance the smooth running of the exercise.
According to him: “Medical missions of this nature are not new in the State of Osun. Since inception of this administration, we have embarked on similar interventions to enable our people benefit from medical expertise they would not otherwise have access to. The first, at this same venue, was ‘Awo Oju Omoluabi’ initiated by Oranmiyan Worldwide in March 2011.”
In her welcome address, the Commissioner of Health, Temitope Ilori, said the programme is complementary to the government’s health policies in the state, which is paramount to Aregbesola’s administration.
Ilori disclosed that the MTN Eye Foundation is the fifth of such programmes in the state, adding that by the time the administration of Aregbesola winds up, no one with blindness would be left in the state.
According to her: “MTN brought the three weeks  programme to the state because it found the government responsive and responsible.
“This is in tandem with what this administration stands for. Health is very central and a vital cardinal policy of the government.”
The Executive Secretary of MTN Foundation, Nolly Ugbona, said the telecommunications giant brought the eye programme to Osun State because of its readiness for the programme.