Speaking to
Journalists, the District Governor stated that the choice of Obalande is not
unconnected with the dense population of the area and the fact that it is a
market area. “Obalende is a densely populated area, some are ignorant of the
fact that they need to check themselves, some know but due to lack of finance,
they would not want to do that, and some ordinarily don’t have the habit of
going for checkups until sickness comes. So what we are doing which is our way
of giving back to society is to give them an opportunity to get tested and to know their health
status, and that is what the president and members of Rotary Club of Ikoyi, one
of the most vibrant clubs in the district, is doing here today.
“Obalende is
also where you have market women that would take advantage of this opportunity.
So I am here to overseer what they are doing and to be sure it is going on
well,” Ejezie stated.
Ejezie has kind
words for the Rotary Club of Ikoyi saying “The club is one of the most vibrant
clubs under the district and they know what they are doing. We have seven areas
of focus, the eight one is on mental health, so this is in health. What they
are doing is disease prevention and treatment; it is the month of December, so
how better than to check women with breast cancer. Some may have lumps they
would no know, some may already have a bloated cancer in them and they wouldn’t
know until it gets serious, and we all
know that early detection leads to early cure and some people have been saved from
it because it was dictated early, so they are doing this today to have the
women ascertain their health status, and if anything at all, maybe lump, they
can advise the women for further processes on what needs to be done to save
them from full blown cancer that would not be easy to cure.”
She asserted
that government can come in many ways to assist, “We are calling on government
of Lagos State and Ogun State, Rotary has done so much for the people of Lagos
and Ogun states, so it is time for them to partner. Imagine if the Lagos State
is partnering with this screening, this project would cover the whole of Lagos
State, all communities. IKoyi Club as a club may not have all the necessary
resources to cover everywhere, and that is why they are in Obalende alone. If
government as joined us and empowered us, we have the machinery, Rotary has a
veritable platform to do this, we could have covered all the communities in
Lagos State with this breast cancer screening, but we can only do to the extent
to which our finances can carry.”
Funsho Gbogboade,
current President, Rotary Club of Ikoyi on her part stated that it is wrong for
women to allow suffer from breast cancer when it can easily be detected and
cured, and that was the reason Rotary pumps money on issues relating to breast
cancer. Rotary pays attention to breast because they believe that prevention is
better than cure, “Actually we believe that prevention is better and even cheaper
than cure, a lot of cases that could have been prevented if only they are
aware. We are creating awareness for women so that they can be checking their
breasts every morning, if they feel anything unusual they can come around. We
have done counseling for them this
morning, and then by the time you get to the hospital and you see cases that
nothing can be done, it is too late, you pity the situation, something that can
be prevented has now worsened, bringing too much palaver in the family, in the
society, in the nation, worldwide. So that is why we have taken it upon
ourselves to put in a lot of money into this proggramme.”
On how the
club was able to mobilise the women to attend the screening, Gbogboade
disclosed that the club employed the services of town criers. “The club
employed the services of town criers to go round the vicinity, including
markets, barracks to have meetings with Olojas. We are expecting nothing less than
200 women, even though we prepared for 300.”
Gbogboade said
that the phase one of the screening was done at the General Hospital Lagos, where
over 400 women were screened and during the exercise, three cases were
detected, adding that the phase three of the screening would be at the Annual
Conference of the district in Abeokuta.
She thanked Obalende
LCDA for providing them with free venue and generator to ensure uninterrupted
power supply throughout the exercise; Eko Electricity Distribution Company for sponsoring
the day’s programme, Professor Samson Afolabi, Founder of Hope for Youths at
Work Foundation for co-sponsoring the programme and Mrs Tolu Onolaja, a
Rotarian from Ogudu, who also supported the programme by her donations.
Dr Akintayo
Akintoba Adebayo, the Medical Officer of Obalende LCDA and also the Director of
Health Planning Research and Statistics for Lagos State Health District Three
said the exercise was to screen for any suspicious lump that may eventually
develop into breast cancer. “If it is discovered early and appropriate
investigation is done, they will be fine.”
Adebayo
disclosed that the screening in three fold “It is three in one, we are doing HIV
screening free of charge, secondly we are doing integrated medical outreach
that includes checking their blood sugar, to see if they have diabetes, we are
also checking to see if they have hypertension. Diabetes and hypertension is still one of the
leading causes of sudden death all over the world. But other places where they
are knowledgeable on how to take care of themselves, what we called the concept
of self-care, the mortality or the death cases reduce, but over here people are
just ignorant, they are only interested in stomach infrastructure, not
maintaining health as a priority. That is one of the issues we have in this
country. We would not be discouraged, with Rotary, and some other well-meaning
Nigerians, other organisations, by the time we continually engage people, bring
information to them, do a lot of health promotion campaigns, with time,
gradually people will get to know and understand the reason why it is
important.”
On what can
be done to eliminate breast cancer, he said that eternal vigilance is the word.
“You must watch out for it, by screening yourself, by avoiding those things
that would enable you to have it. People should run away from fatty foods, I am
not saying they should not eat fatty food, but anything that is not taken in
moderation would lead to crisis. That is in the area of breast cancer. The
other one is indiscriminate use of drugs; there are some drugs that can trigger
the cascading of events that may eventually lead to lumpy things in the breast,
and if they are not discovered early enough may progress to full blown cancer
and by which time it may be late. So screening is the only thing by which it
can be discovered.”
He dismissed
the fears expressed by the public that machines used for breast cancer screening
bring causes cancer. “That is ignorance. For instance, I recall that when
mobile phone first came in; there were a lot of misconceptions about whether it
causes cancer or whatever. The point is that the dose you take is what
determines it. Some people would like to sleep and put the phone on their head
for 24 hours, 24/7 and for 365 days. In the process those of radiation that
gets to the brain is higher. But what we are using is just illumination; we can
demonstrate it for you. It is harmless, it doesn’t cause problem to the people.”
He advised
the women to seek medical opinion if they discover any strange lumps in their
breasts.
Mrs Comfort,
one of the women whose breasts were screened, disclosed that the exercise was actually
the second time she was being screened for breast cancer and she encouraged
encouraged other women to take issue of their breasts seriously. “The exercise
is okay, I am excited for being part of the programme, I didn’t pay any dime to
do the screening. I want to say a big thank you for this great opportunity they
granted us because doing it at public or private hospitals it is going to take
a lot of money, very expensive, so for them to bring it down to this place free
of charge, I want to tell them thank you, and may God continue to bless them
and enlarge their coast in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.”
Christy Okonkwo
a youth corpper serving at Etiosa Local Government Area was also screened. She
said she felt blessed for the good opportunity offered by Rotary to screen her
breasts. “I have never done it in my life, this is the first time, seeing the
process, I have done it and everything went well, I don’t have any lump in my
breasts.”
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