5,000 to enjoy free medical service – NYSC

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says about 5,000 rural dwellers in Zamfara would benefit from its free healthcare services.

The state NYSC Coordinator, Malam Ballama Bello, said this on Tuesday while flagging-off the 2016 HIRD programme at Kucheri community in Tsafe Local Government Area of the state.

Ballama said that four communities selected for this year’s programme, which is under the Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD) scheme, across the state were Kucheri, Kungurki, Mallamawa and Danbaza in Tsafe, Kaura-Namoda, Bukkuyum and Maradun local government areas, respectively.

“In each of the selected communities we are targeting over 1,000 beneficiaries making a total of about 5,000 beneficiaries across the state,” he said.

He explained that the scheme was initiated by the NYSC to assist rural dwellers with free medical and healthcare services, considering the health challenges faced by people in the rural areas.

Bello noted that people from rural areas suffer from various diseases but many of them have no financial capacity to go to hospitals.

“That is why the NYSC came up with this initiative to assist people especially the poor at the grassroots level and various diseases such as malaria, diabetes, cholera and typhoid would be treated during the outreach,’’ he said.

He said medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, community health officers, NYSC health officials and members of NYSC health Community Development Service (CDS) group have been deployed for the exercise.

The District Head of Kucheri, Alhaji Ibrahim Madawaki, commended the NYSC for selecting his community for the commencement of the programme in the state.

Madawaki said that the initiative would improve healthcare services and delivery in the rural communities.