Youths attack Greg Ibe’s medical outreach in Osisioma

The Prof Greg Ibe free medical programme was today disrupted at Osisioma Ngwa when restive youths who were armed with dangerous weapons stormed the venue of the medical outreach and chased away the medical team from carrying out their assignment.

According to Dr Ojum Ogwo, Coordinator of the Prof Gregory Ibe Medical and Surgical Outreach, trouble started when a group of angry youths prevented the 50 man medical team undertaking the programme from accessing the scheduled Abayi Council Hall, on the claim that they had earlier secured the venue for an event. However, on further investigation it was discovered that the youths’ event which turned out to be a new yam celebration was actually billed for a September.

Despite the presence of many patients who had gathered from remote parts of Osisioma Local Government Area to benefit from the exercise, the youths frustrated every effort to resolve the issue, threatening that they were directed by a governorship candidate from Osisioma to attack the medical team if they insisted on continuing with the exercise.

Subsequently, it was a frustrated medical team that retreated to a safe area in Aba, taking with them the medical supplies for Osisioma LGA to the disappointment of the hapless patients.

Dailytrailnews online reports that the Prof Gregory Ibe Free Medical and Surgical Outreach is a social intervention programme initiated by Prof Gregory Ibe in 1991 to give the indigent members of the society access to medical care to their health challenges. The current 2022 phase has already treated over 10000 patients, while distributing more than 3500 eye glasses in 12 LGAs of Abia state.