The NYSC Director-General, Brig Gen Yushau Ahmed, made this known on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen at the flag-off of the special medical outreach under the NYSC Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD) for the first quarter of the year 2024.
The management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has deployed at least 50 medical personnel to Gosa-Sarki community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, to carry out a medical outreach which entailed diagnosis and treatment of ailments.
The NYSC Director-General, Brig Gen Yushau Ahmed, made this known on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen at the flag-off of the special medical outreach under the NYSC Health Initiative for Rural Dwellers (HIRD) for the first quarter of the year 2024.
The NYSC boss affirmed that initiative had reached out to over 3,650,000 Nigerians since its commencement, noting that the target was to reach at least 500,000 additional beneficiaries in 2024.
He said; "This edition of the programme is unique as it comes at this time when we are celebrating the First Anniversary my assumption of duty as the Director-General of the Scheme.
"The HIRD is the platform on which the NYSC caters for the health needs of the people in rural communities, who have little or no access to quality healthcare. In essence, we are deploying the resources at our disposal to compliment the efforts of the Federal Government towards achieving universal health coverage as part of its social welfare programmes.
"In driving this initiative, we leverage the expertise of Corps Medical Personnel, such as Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, and Laboratory Scientists, that are deployed to render free and qualitative medical services to communities across the country.
"We also mobilise medical consumables, including drugs, to treat ailments, while referrals are made to relevant health facilities, when necessary.
"I am pleased to report that since the commencement of the programme, we have reached out to three million six hundred and fifteen thousand Nigerians by way of sensitization on causes and prevention of diseases; treatment of ailments; and referrals. Our target is to reach at least five hundred thousand additional beneficiaries this year.
"It is heart-warming to note that the successes recorded in the programme over the years have been partly due to the support of various stakeholders, especially those that provide resources, such as drugs and other consumables for use during outreaches of this nature.
"I, therefore, wish to use this opportunity to once again express our profound gratitude to Government Agencies, non-governmental organizations as well as public-spirited individuals that have continued to lend helping hands towards sustaining this laudable initiative.
"At this juncture, I would like to also commend the patriotic zeal of Corps members of successive batches, who have been the field implementers of the HIRD in all States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.”