The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
SCORES of villagers in Lupane District’s Jibajiba area received free medical treatment last Saturday during an outreach programme facilitated by Abundant Life Revival Mission International and a group of doctors, as part of the church’s social responsibility programme.
The programme in its fifth year running saw several general practitioners and specialists ranging from dentists, surgeons, opticians, physicians, and cardiologists traveling to Lupane to give free medical treatment to villagers in the area.
The outreach programme was held at Jibajiba Primary School. Abundant Life Revival Mission International founder and Prophet Itayi Ukama said the programme was launched five years ago at the church farm along the Bulawayo-Airport Road.
“We launched this programme five years ago at the church farm, where we facilitated for villagers to receive free medical treatment. In most instances villagers living in poverty stricken areas can’t afford treatment so as a church we saw this as an opportunity to assist the needy.
“We are targeting mainly the remote areas around the country, those areas where people cannot afford medical assistance. Our aim is to give back to the society, we are bringing medical services nearer to the people,” said Prophet Ukama.
He also said in some cases doctors would identify ailments that people were suffering from and transfer the patients to general hospitals.
“In a situation where we carry out an outreach programme with all the required equipment doctors perform a surgery. That is what we did in Lupane where a number of people received treatment for various ailments.
“However, in instances where the cases are extreme we identify challenges and refer the patients to hospital,” said Prophet Ukama.
He said the church had contributed all the finance to make the outreach a success.
“This was made possible through church contributions. We also had prayer and Bible sessions with the villagers.
“This outreach really benefited people because they had the opportunity of consulting doctors regardless of the emergency of their condition and the outreach also cut the distance people travel to the nearest hospital, which is St Luke’s,” said Prophet Ukama.
However, some villagers said the district needed more specialist doctors.
Abundant Life Revival Mission International also has several projects meant to better the life of many unemployed congregants.
The church has several farming projects including poultry, piggery and cattle ranching. — @peterkmatika
