The Nigerian Army on Wednesday offered free medical services to residents of Dukpa, a community in Gwagwalada in the FCT, as part of programmes set up to commemorate the 2013 Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL).

The chairman of the Medical sub-Committee on NADCEL, Brig. Gen. Etido Ekpo expressed to the community dwellers the mission of the Army. He said the Army wish to help the resident with free medical tests, treatments, drugs, and medical advice where necessary, a gesture which he described as the Army’s hand of friendship to the people.

“One of the skills of the Nigerian Army is our potential to provide medical services. That’s why you see that anywhere we have a unit, there are medical facilities and services to people around us,” he said.

Furthermore, Brig. Gen. Etido said that the outreach include test for blood pressure, sugar level, eye tests and other common ailments such as malaria and fever.

While declaring the medical outreach open, the National President of the Nigeria Army Officers’ Wives (NAOWA) Mrs. Gift Ihejirika advised the residents to make use of the opportunity offered by the army to improve their health.

The medical team, she said, is made up of consultants and health experts in all fields, describing the choice of Gwagwalada by the army authorities for the programme as a means of complementing government and non-governmental health programmes in the community.

“According to a popular saying, health is wealth. It is in recognition of the fact that a medical outreach programme is enshrined in the Nigerian Army Day Celebration every year. Each day, several work hours are lost due to breakdown caused by different kinds of illness. The effect of this on the nation’s GDP cannot be over emphasized, “she concluded.

Medical items such as drugs, eye glasses and contraceptives were given to the residents. The free medical service was also extended to prison officers and inmates of the Gwagwalada Prison.

Mrs Chinelo Nwufo, a teacher and resident of the community commended the army for the free medical service to the community.