Thousands of people benefitted from the Anambra free treatment exercise which ended last weekend. The event, which held for two days in the three senatorial zones of the state, was a collaborative effort of four organisations led by the Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation.

According to a release, “the focus of the programme was education and health screening; geared towards curing common chronic and communicable diseases. Areas of health challenges tackled are  epilepsy and physical therapy. Other cases included diabetes, hypertension and eye problems”.

Saturday Vanguard which monitored the programme said that patients were first examined on their areas of complaints after which they were counseled on how to primarily take care of themselves and engage in daily exercises.

Educating the patients at the physical therapy section at the DCC Anglican Church ground in Nnewi, Dr. Larry Ozo said that ignorance has much to do with the rampant ailments of persons, especially the elderly ones. According to him, what later in life becomes waist pain starts gradually and steadily builds up until it becomes a full blown health challenge.

He demonstrated how both older and young people should pick anything from the ground or lift even heavy objects. “If you want to pick an item on the ground, for instance, you have to squat and then pick such item. The general way of bending to pick something from the ground, which affects the spine and the nerves, gradually leads to waist pain”, Dr. Ozo advised.

Speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the coordinator of the programme, John Obegolu, said the free treatment exercise, was sponsored by Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation, Rise Global Health Initiative, Rise Clinic Nigeria and Godwin and Patricia Okeke Foundation. Obegolu lauded the Ifeanyi Ubah Foundation and the collaborators for funding the programme.