(PANS), UNIJOS chapter, held maiden pharmaceutical outreach

Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS),
University of Jos (UNIJOS)

Members of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS),University of Jos (UNIJOS) chapter, have held their maiden pharmaceutical outreach in a rural community in Plateau State. ESTHER MARK (Mass Communication) reports that the undertaking was tagged “community service”.

For more than three hours, residents of Zawan community queued up at the Orphanage and Our Lady of Apostle (OLA) Hospital to benefit from the free pharmaceutical care by students of the University of Jos (UNIJOS).

As the students arrived, they were welcomed by the locals, who trooped out in their hundreds to be treated freely.The hospital staff gave numbers to the beneficiaries to ensure orderliness.

The exercise, organised as a community service, was the maiden outreach of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS).

The journey to Zawan began from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science where the students met with the Dean, Prof John Aguiyi, to showcase items such as syringes, drugs and other health gadgets they were taking on the trip. Afterwards, they hopped into two coaster buses and left for the community with some lecturers.

As the exercise began, the students, who represented all levels of study, divided the tasks among themselves. Freshers and their colleagues in 200-Level co-ordinated the movement of patients to the Registrars’ Section. The Registrars were 300-Level students, who took the details of the patients, their 400-and 500-Level counterparts were in charge of administering drugs and taking of blood pressures and other preliminary tests.

Some final year students with the lecturers and the hospital doctors formed the counselling team, which advised patients on health issues.

As the exercise went on, officials of Dufil Prima Foods Ltd, manufacturer of Indomie, came with plates of cooked noodles for the patients.

At the end of the two-day free health mission, about 540 patients were treated. Complex cases were referred to teaching hospitals for further treatment.

Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Dr Ignatius Okafor, a lecturer, said peptic ulcer, malaria and hypertension were some of the ailments recorded, adding that anti-ulcer drugs, anti-malaria and antibiotic drugs were given free to the diagnosed patients.

Okafor said some of the patients suffered preventable ailments because of malnutrition and stress. Some of the ailments, he said, could have degenerated into serious health problems because of inadequate healthcare facilities in the rural area. The don urged the government to step up its rural care campaign by providing comprehensive health facilities and rehabilitation for the vulnerable.

Some of the participants told CAMPUSLIFE their experience. Dalang Simdi, 300-Level student, said: “It has been a wonderful experience for me. Despite the language barrier, we were able to rescue some of the rural dwellers from untimely death because many of them did not notice the kind of disease they were carrying could have led to death. I will participate again if the exercise comes next session.”

A patient, Roseline Thomas, 40, who was diagnosed of high blood pressure and sight problems, said after she was given free drugs: “I thank you people so much. God bless you for treating my baby and I. God will reward your good work. I am so grateful.”

The PANS president, Paul Ikechukwu, described the organisation of the programme as challenging and rigorous, thanking all the sponsors and pharmaceutical bodies that donated drugs and hospital gadgets for the mission.

To end the outreach, the association visited the orphanage home within the hospital, where it donated items including cartoons of Indomie noodles, groundnut oil, toiletries and food Items.