The International Centre for Islamic Culture and Education (ICICE), a custodian of Al-Noor Mosque, Wuse 11 Abuja, has provided free medical outreach for residents of Karmo-Gwagwa and environs in the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The medical Intervention which was
held on Sunday at the front of Khalid Ibn Waliid Mosque in Unguwar Hausawa, Karmo, had many patients, mostly
children and women, screened and treated for malaria, typhoid, peptic
ulcer, hypertension, diabetes, diarrhoea and other diseases.
ICICE director-general, Dr Kabir Kabo-Usman, said the gesture was borne
out of the corporate social
responsibility (CSR) of the ICICE as a religious and charitable organisation.
According to him, institutions whether owned by the government, private sector or charity organisations like NGO have social responsibility to cater for the less
privileged in the society and Al Noor is leading by example.
“If we cannot take care of the less privileged in society, it means we are abdicating from our responsibility. Every institution whether it is owned by the government, private sector or charity organisations, it is their utmost responsibility to care for less privilege and if we are not doing that, then it is a shame. But, thank God that at Al Noor, we are leading by example and not just talking,” Usman said.
The ICICE boss revealed that the free medical treatment was being conducted by six volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other volunteers as support staff to make the outreach successful.
He said no fewer than 500 patients will benefit from the medical intervention at the end of the exercise.
“You can see the nature of this place where medical outreach is taking place, no potable water, good roads, schools and medical facilities which make it the right venue for the exercise because we really want to make a contribution to transform and impact on the lives of people that are living in this area.
“We are doing our best to give them all the necessary medical needs and also refer to the local medical centers and general hospitals cases that are beyond us. Those that are urgent cases, the International Islamic Center for Education and Culture, the custodian of Al Noor Mosque, will take care of that, which is part of our responsibility.”
Also, the chairman of medical outreach committee of the Center, Dr Muhammed Dada Ibrahim, said the free medical outreach was a regular exercise of the organisation until COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have been doing this work regularly until the time we had COVID-19 pandemic where we had restricted our outreach, but now we have been clear and now coming out during this Ramadan. This is our second outing this Ramadan. This community deserves medical care and a lot of people here have illnesses that are easily treatable but unfortunately they have no access. We are here to help them where we can because this is just to compliment the efforts of the government in terms of reaching people with health care,” Ibrahim said.
Sarki Hausawa, Karmo, Bashiru Muhammed, who was one the beneficiaries, thanked the Islamic Center for coming to their aid, saying it was the first time they were enjoying such free medical care in the community.
“We highly appreciate the support the Islamic Centre is rendering to our community by giving us drugs free of charge. This is the first time we are receiving this kind of medical assistant from any organisation. Those that were here before, we paid for the service partially but this one is completely free.” Muhammed said.
Another beneficiary, Hajiya Binta Muhammed Salihu, also commended the Islamic organization for support. “We are appreciative of what Al Noor Mosque has done for us in providing medical help to people that are not fine. You can see the crowd here, a lot of people are coming to get help free of charge. We thank the Mosque and Almighty Allah for giving us this opportunity.
