By DANIEL ELIJAH AKHIDENO

Smiling faces, with relief etched on their faces, thronged the St. Michael Catholic Church, Ketu, Lagos, on Saturday, August 31, 2024 as the US-based Open Hands Amazing Charitable Organization extended its free medical outreach to Lagos.

The beneficiaries, numbering in their hundreds, were not only fed but also enjoyed free consultations, health talks, eye tests, hepatitis screening, cancer screening, tuberculin (tuberculosis) testing, weight checks, prostate cancer test, sugar test, blood pressure checks, diabetes test, renal issues, and urinary checks, among others.

Drugs and eye glasses were be given to patients free of charge, in addition to cash gifts to the most needy.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Glory Madukar, who checked her blood level, toldNews Expressthat she had not been able visit any doctor over the years to check herself due to lack of funds. Mrs. Madukar, who could not hold her joy, profusely thanked the event sponsor, Dr. Mrs. Magdalene Nwaka Agada, President of Open Hands Amazing Charitable Organization, US, UK and Nigeria, for her kindheartedness. “I pray for God to continue to bless her for remembering the needy,” she said.

According to Dr. Kingsley Nkem, who co-ordinated the day-long event, “Over the past five years, Open Hands Amazing Charitable Organization, US, UK and Nigeria, has put together life-changing health outreach and intervention in different states of Nigeria, among them in Egede, Enugu State, Ibuzor and Akomazi in Delta State, where there were also free cleft pallet surgery made possible by this charity. This in addition to hospital equipment donated to health institution and hospital across Nigeria, in River, Taraba, Nassarawa, etc.”

She expressed gratitude to Dr Mrs Magdalene Nwaka Agada “for the good work she is doing with the most dependable support of Dr Mrs Josephine Nneka Ewere, and Chief Dr Aloysius Arinzechukwuemeka Agada, who are the pillars and strong supporters of the charity in Nigeria.”

In an online chat withNews Express, Dr Mrs Agada expressed gratitude to God for the success of the event. She said: “Even though we have been based in USA for decades, we want Nigeria to be better and will continue to do the much we can to make life better for the less privileged.”