Army Headquarters Garrison on Thursday conducted medical outreach at Karshi community in the FCT to boost civil-military relations to ensure peace and security ahead of the yuletide.
The medical outreach covers free medical screening and drug administration, eye checks and donation of eye glasses, as well as presentation of crutches.
The Commander, AHQ Garrison, Maj.-Gen. Koko Isoni, said the outreach was one of the non-kinetic lines of operation of the Army to enhance its operational activities and alleviate problems facing communities.
“There are several lines of operations when you are carrying out activities to enhance security in an area and one of the lines is non-kinetic line of operation, which is basically what we are doing now.
“It is also in terms of civil-military activities to reach out to the local populace and see how we can alleviate some of the problems they have.
“In this particular case, we have chosen a medical outreach and that is why we have them here to look into their medical challenges.”
The commander said the large turnout of residents showed the impact the medical outreach would have on the people and their relationship with troops in the area.
Head of the Medical Team, Lt.-Col. Michael Ejembi, said the activities covered outpatient, eye and dental care, as well as orthopedic, physiotherapy and public health care.
“Basically, what we do here is mainly treatment of basic medical conditions; any other condition that may need further attention, we refer to the Command and NAOWA Hospital at Mambila Barracks.
“For example, some people who have things like cataracts which may need surgical intervention are diagnosed here but the surgery will have to be done in our hospital.
“Everything is free. Drugs, glasses; nobody is paying a Kobo and we have attended to more than 300 people since we started in the morning,” he said.
The District Head of Karshi, Alhaji Ahmed Doka, who spoke on behalf of the Emir of Karshi, thanked the Nigerian army for the intervention, saying it would go along way in addressing the health needs of people of the community.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Felicia Etegah, said her eyes were screened, offered classes and referral to the army hospital for surgery.
She thanked the Nigerian army for the opportunity to get her eyes treated, adding that she could not have afforded the cost of the glasses and surgery to be undertaken.