Lions Club to construct N50m dialysis centre in Akure

Lions Club International on Wednesday said that plans were in top gear for the construction of a 10-bed dialysis centre valued at N50 million in Akure, Ondo State.

Mr Adekunle Adedipe, District Governor of District 404A1 made this known in Lagos, stating that the club was intervening in the health sector, to save lives that were being needlessly lost due to lack of functional dialysis centre.

“Akure, which is home to almost 600, 000 people does not have a functional dialysis centre and in the entire state of almost four million people, there are only two functional units with a total of six beds,” he said.

According to him, the district will hold a fundraising programme in August for the project, to complement grant funding from Lions Club International Foundation.

He said that the dialysis centre would be the core project for his tenure, which spans from July 1 to June 30, 2020.

Adedipe said that on July 16, the club signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ondo State University of Medical Sciences and Adcem Healthcare Services for the project.

He said that the school had allocated land for the project while Adcem would act as the technical partner providing operational experience and expertise for the project.

The District Governor of 404A1, however said that the construction will commence in January 2020, while the centre is expected to be concluded by March and becomes operational in April.

According to him, the club will also embark on diabetes advocacy and awareness campaign with plans to screen and treat about 10,000 persons in the district.

He said that the club would train about 20 primary health care workers in the district to scale them up to World Health Organisation standards.

On environment issue, Adedipe said that the district would hold a seminar to sensitise the nation to the menace of plastic pollution and proffer possible solutions to it.

Adedipe urged more people to join the club and consider volunteerism, adding that having about 8000 Lions Club members in the country was inadequate for the task of nation building.

He said that concerted efforts shall be made to ensure that the club continues to provide for the underprivileged, towards impacting on lives and contributing to the sustainable growth and development of communities.