Over 300 Refugees received free health services During Community Nursing led Multidisciplinary Placement Outreach programme under the first mile project 2.0 Ubuntu Project
The team was led by Dr. Grace Nambozi who acknowledged the support from the First mile Project 2.0, the University administration and the Office of the Dean Faculty of Medicine. These sponsored the outreach full board giving our students an opportunity to get hands on skills in a community health”. She added that local and international agencies too were involved to support the cause. These included Medical Teams International, these do the day to day running of the medical services in the Health Centre III Nakivaale where the outreach was carried out. Reproductive health Uganda these provided Family planning services and the Health centre III medical team that help with the provision of medicines and referral services.
for the support rendered to make the community outreach a success. she however encouraged more men to seek for medical services not to wait until they are unwell.
According to Shanitah Nankya, the president of Mbarara University Nursing Students Association, the team comprised of 70 students from the department of Nursing, Pharmacy, MBChB and Medical laboratory students offered services such as community health education, health screening assessing the BMI, history talking & health assessment & examination, drug prescriptions, HIV counselling and testing services, blood glucose screening, family planning services among others.
She added that the purpose of the outreach was to deliver awareness on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and provide a baseline survey for the refugees to know their health statuses.
Over 300 refugees turned up for free services offered by MUST such as Body mass index (BMI) checkup, family planning services, HIV testing and counselling services, Hepatitis B testing. At the end of medical services, the refuges would receive some home used items like soap sugars salt, clothes or shoes collected by good will students. Said Shanita. The refugees included Rwandese, Congolese, Burundians and Somalis.
Dr. Grace Nambozi, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nursing said the turn up was good, the community members (refugees) were positive towards the services offered to them.
‘’We have had a good turn-up and cooperative group of community members and a lot has been shared with them. The focus of this group was to sensitize the refugees and the locals who reside nearby about the prevention and treatment of Non-communicable diseases which are among the leading causes of death in Uganda. Several conditions have been reported to our team and advise was given to them accordingly through drug prescriptions. The students have been committed to serve the community and we encourage them to keep up the spirit,’’ Dr. Grace stated.
In her observation, more women turned up than men and thus encourages men to go to health centers to know their health status because having healthy life is a right for all and it’s the responsibility of each one.
One of the Congolese beneficiaries who preferred secrecy said that a friend informed her about the outreach few days ago and she had to prepare in advance. She further revealed that on arrival, the nurses and doctors (health care professional students) attended to her very well, screening, medical examination and getting drug prescriptions. She was however worried about not being able to get the prescribed drugs because they were not available at the Health facility.
In response, Dr. Barbra Nekesa the delegated medical personnel at the health centre, stated that the pharmacy is always open on Tuesdays and that’s when they receive drugs depending on the consumption level available. She thanked MUST team for the work done and assured that drugs will be available for all the prescriptions given to the patients apart from those with specialized cases.
Emmanuel Mangeni a Nursing student in the department of Nursing, completion programme, noted that on the next outreach they need to come along with psychologist, Psychiatrist, and ophthalmologists. “Most people are stressed and need someone to talk to. Some would breakdown on hearing someone speak their language, others would be hesitant to share their illnesses due to past experiences. Some had optical challenges”.
The outreach ended at 5:00 pm.