Islamic centre provides free medical care to Abuja communities
In its bid to give succour to the less privileged, the International Centre for Islamic Culture and Education, a custodian of Al-Noor Mosque, Wuse 11 Abuja, has given free medical care to the residents of Karmo-Gwagwa and environs in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Leadership reported that the medical outreach was held on Sunday at the front of Khalid Ibn Waliid Mosque in Unguwar Hausawa, Karmo.
The exercise had many patients in attendance especially children and women, who were screened and treated for malaria, typhoid, peptic ulcer, hypertension, diabetes, diarrhoea and other diseases.
The Director-General of ICICE, Dr Kabir Kabo-Usman, explained that the gesture was part of the corporate social responsibility of the ICICE as a religious and charitable organisation.
While emphasizing that it was the duty of the NGOs to assist the less privileged in the society, Kabo-Usman said, institutions whether owned by the government, private sector or charity organisations like NGO have social responsibility to cater for the less privileged in the society and Al Noor is leading by example.
He said, “If we cannot take care of the less privileged in society, it means we are abdicating from our responsibility. Every institution whether it is owned by the government, private sector or charity organisations, it is their utmost responsibility to care for less privilege and if we are not doing that, then it is a shame. But, thank God that at Al Noor, we are leading by example and not just talking.”
About six volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other volunteers conducted the free medical treatment as support staff to make the medical intervention a success, Usman disclosed.
He revealed that no fewer than 500 patients will be attended to at the end of the exercise.
“You can see the nature of this place where medical outreach is taking place, no potable water, good roads, schools and medical facilities which make it the right venue for the exercise because we really want to make a contribution to transform and impact on the lives of people that are living in this area.
“We are doing our best to give them all the necessary medical needs and also refer to the local medical centers and general hospitals cases that are beyond us. Those that are urgent cases, the International Islamic Center for Education and Culture, the custodian of Al Noor Mosque, will take care of that, which is part of our responsibility.”
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of Medical Outreach Committee of the Center, Dr Muhammed Dada Ibrahim, stressed that the organization had been carrying out the free medical outreach until the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have been doing this work regularly until the time we had COVID-19 pandemic where we had restricted our outreach, but now we have been clear and now coming out during this Ramadan. This is our second outing this Ramadan. This community deserves medical care and a lot of people here have illnesses that are easily treatable but unfortunately they have no access. We are here to help them where we can because this is just to compliment the efforts of the government in terms of reaching people with health care,” Ibrahim said.
One of the beneficiaries, Sarki Hausawa, Karmo, Bashiru Muhammed, hailed the Islamic Center for coming to their aid, noting that it was the first of its kind in the community.
“We highly appreciate the support the Islamic Centre is rendering to our community by giving us drugs free of charge. This is the first time we are receiving this kind of medical assistant from any organisation. Those that were here before, we paid for the service partially but this one is completely free.” Muhammed said.
Also, Hajiya Binta Muhammed Salihu, who benefited from the free medical care, praised the Islamic organization for its support. “We are appreciative of what Al Noor Mosque has done for us in providing medical help to people that are not fine. You can see the crowd here, a lot of people are coming to get help free of charge. We thank the Mosque and Almighty Allah for giving us this opportunity.”