The Lions Club of Kampala and Makerere University on Friday carried out for the second time free healthcare provision for poor residents in Kamwokya, one of the largest slum areas of Kampala.
The Lions Club in partnership with Kamwokya Catholic Community Medical Centre, have been carrying out eye treatment, HIV/AIDS and diabetes screening and treatment, free of charge, for the poor residents in the area.
Godfrey Mabirizi, the program manager at the medical centre, said majority of patients receiving free healthcare are elderly, who have vision anomalies. “
We screen them and issue reading glasses for the elderly and also carry out eye surgery for those with cataract”, he said.
He said the medical centre has for a long period been helping the slum dwellers in the fight to eradicate spread of HIV/AIDS.
“We had to start a school vocational centre to give skills to children of the poor or those orphaned by HIV/AIDS," he said.
Robert Munanura, the district governor of Lions Club of Uganda, was taken around the various medical services facilities at the medical centre.
He hailed Mulago Hospital volunteers and ASG Eye hospital, for their humanitarian gesture:
“This is part of our service to the community and we are proud of it because it gives us mileage”, he said.
Dr Grace Ssali, of Mulago hospital and member of the Lions Club, said their team of volunteers has so far prescribed and issued reading glasses to over 100 people.
“A total of 15 patients need eye surgeries and we have referred them to Mulago hospital for free eye surgery”, she said.
