Simon Ushie, 8 October 2020
The Cross River State Government has flagged off the Modified Integrated Medical Outreach Programme (M-IMOP) commencing the radical and nation wide holistic approach towards improving immunisation and other primary health care services across the country NEGROIDHAVEN has confirmed.
The exercise which is the brain child of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency is poised to expanding PHC services to hard to reach areas and local government council's which are challenged by some constraints limiting access to health workers during outrrach programs.
Flagging off the exercise at the Calabar Municipal area council of Cross River State, the state's deputy governor, Professor Ivara Esu said, the exercise will as much as possible meet the health needs of the people.
On her part, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu, urged health workers to make themselves available to assist parents and children who are in various hard to reach areas in the state.
According to her, the flag-off ceremony of the programme was an “attempt to take basic healthcare services, health education, basic surgeries and screening for diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and cancer to these underserved areas
Speaking earlier, the Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Janet Ekpenyong thanked the state Government for it's health related grassroot oriented projects which has raised awareness and exposing Cross Riverians towards the adoption of modern medicine in times of health challenges.
Dr Ekpenyong explained that the M-IMOP intervention was aimed at strengthening and scaling up access to routine Immunization and other primary healthcare (PHC) services in the selected low perfoming LGAs of Abi, Akampa, Biase, Bakassi, Yala, Obubra, Obudu, Calabar Municipal, Odukpani and Ogoja.
She encouraged Cross Riverians especially nursing mothers and caregivers to always bring their wards to health Facilities and take advantage of outreach programs like the Integrated Medical outreach to get their children and wards vaccinated against all childhood killer diseases and other phc services.
While appreciating the state government and the leadership of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency,the mayor of Calabar, Honourable Nta pledged to mobilize people in the municipal to seek medical attention in some of the various functional health Facilities in the area.
Hadiza Jibril, the National coordinator for the Intergrated Medical outreach program from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, urged the state to take advantage of the scheme to improve on their indices especially to check child mortality and common diseases ravaging the lives of rural dewellers.
Some parents expressed their readiness and desire to support Government's efforts aimed at ending various vaccine preventable diseases as well as other ailments around them.
The exercise is expected to last for one week as various people will be tested, councelled and treated for some common diseases like Malaria, Typoid, HIV/AIDs as well as vaccine administration.
The highlight of the event was the administration of Oral Polio Vaccine and other routine immunisation and Vitamin A suppliment to children.
