HYPREP’s Medical Outreach Benefits 1,000 Ogonis

Over 1,000 Ogonis have benefited from the second phase of the Free Medical Outreach programme undertaken by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
Speaking while flagging off the programme at Community Primary Health Centre, Taabaa, in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, last Saturday, HYPREP Project Coordination, Dr Marvin Dekil, said the free medical initiative provides a first step towards implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland.
Dekil stated that as part of the process, a health impact study was conducted and preliminary data to aid further health study of Ogoniland also collected.
According to him, “We were in Bori on 26th December, 2017 to flag off our free medical intervention in the four local government areas of Ogoniland as a first step towards the implementation of one the recommendations of the UNEP Report.
“The health outreach was a success as attested to by the huge turnout of Ogoni people and their testimonies to its positive impact on their lives.
“The success of the outreach programme got to President Muhammadu Buhari, who was touched by the poor condition of the Ogoni people due to the degradation of their environment by oil exploration, and he graciously approved another round of the medical intervention to reach more people,” Dekil noted.
The project coordinator said, “We have brought with us medical personnel to drive the programme. We enjoin you to cooperate with them; by providing your bio-data. We will be in each local government area for four days. Two days for general consultations, dental and eye care, among other medical services, while the remaining two days are designated for surgical operations.
“This second edition of the HYPREP Health Outreach Programme is important as it precedes the remediation of impacted sites. Presently, invitation for pre-qualification of contractors for remediation of hydrocarbon impacted sites in Ogoniland have been published in some national and international dailies. The exercise will be the culmination of all the processes we have put in place right from the inception of the Project Coordination Office in March, 2017.
“As a project, we assure you that the remediation of Ogoniland will be done only by experienced and best hands locally and internationally so as to achieve the desired results of restoring the environment back to an acceptable standard”, he said.
The Paramount Ruler of Bua Bangha community, Mene Suanu Baridam and the MOSOP President, Mr Legborsi Pyagbara, who themselves also benefited from the free medical outreach, praised HYPREP for the programme.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana