The Kwara State Ministry of Health on Tuesday said that it screened over 102,452 residents of the state across the 16 local government areas for hypertension and diabetes free of charge between October and December last year.
Speaking during the state’s fourth quarter ministerial press briefing in Ilorin, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina El-Imam, said that free refill drugs were also provided to all individuals with known cases of hypertension and diabetes during the exercise, “after we had successfully carried out advocacy and sensitisation to all Kwarans on the two major non-communicable diseases.”
The commissioner said that healthcare workers in primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare facilities were retrained on the diagnosis and management of hypertension and diabetes.
The Commissioner for Health also said that a free breast and cervical cancer screening programme was carried out across the 16 local government areas of the state between October 21 and December 12, 2024.
“1,151 and 807 women were screened for breast and cervical cancers respectively,” she said, adding that, “All suspicious breast lesions had Fine Needle Aspirate for Cytology (FNAC) done, and all diagnosed cases were linked to care at KWASUTH.”
The governor’s aide, who said that improvement in the quality of care of TB patients had resulted in the achievement of a 94% treatment success rate within the reporting period of 2024, added that expansion of Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) centres in health centres was established to improve tuberculosis case finding and services.
“There was also free mass administration of deworming medicines to over 750,000 school-aged children in public and private schools and communities across the state,” she said.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Social Development, Abosede Buraimoh, said that three destitutes in the state were repatriated to Kano and Port Harcourt, Rivers State, within the period under review.
This, she said, was done after the people were treated at a psychiatric home before their repatriation to their homes.
Also, the General Manager, Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP), Alhaji Olayinka Tejidini, said that over 100 business owners whose business outlets were affected by the urban renewal project got between N400,000 and N800,000 to cushion the effect of the removal of their shops on setbacks despite the fact that they had temporary certificates for the space.
He also said that some Lagos traders affected by a recent inferno and who are indigenes of the state were presented with financial support.
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