The Rotary Club of Eko Signature has donated medical equipment, infant beds, mosquito nets and food items to the Igboefon Primary Health Centre in Lagos, in an intervention aimed at improving maternal and child healthcare and supporting vulnerable families.
The donations, commissioned on Saturday, 24 October, included leather-padded chairs for patients, two fans, 50 infant beds, 50 protective mosquito nets, blood pressure monitoring devices, glucometers and other medical consumables. The initiative also provided transport subsidies to 50 beneficiaries.
The project covered three areas of Rotary’s focus, Maternal and Child Health, Disease Prevention and Treatment, and Community Economic Development.
Under the intervention, Mr and Mrs Felix Molokwu sponsored 14 three-seater leather-padded chairs for the waiting room, outpatient unit, and corridor, providing seating for up to 42 people. They also provided two fans, one digital and two manual blood pressure machines, two glucometers, four cannulas, two dressing forceps, and other medical consumables. The sponsors additionally donated 50 mosquito nets to help protect pregnant women and their babies from mosquito bites.
Sisters in the Deen Foundation Orphanage, also known as Baytu Sakeenah, donated 50 infant beds, while Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc provided bags of packed food for beneficiaries.
Each of the 50 beneficiaries received N2,000 from the club to cover transportation costs, with an additional N1,000 per person donated by Alhaja Idayat Koledoye, a sponsor and member of the orphanage foundation.
Project Director of the Rotary Club of Eko Signature, Rotarian Adebayo Abbas, explained that the intervention followed a fundraising programme held the previous month, which enabled the club to mobilise resources for the health centre.
He noted that an inspection of the facility had revealed inadequate seating for pregnant women attending antenatal services, an uncomfortable waiting area and shortages of basic medical equipment.
“Previously, when we came for inspection, we found out that they had a limited number of chairs that are reused whenever they carry out antenatal services,” Abbas said.
The shortage meant that the facility had to ration chairs, leaving some women standing while waiting to receive care. The club therefore selected durable, padded seating to improve comfort for pregnant women and nursing mothers.
The fans were provided in response to complaints about the heat in the outpatient unit, while the additional blood pressure monitors and glucometers were intended to supplement the facility’s existing equipment.
Abbas added that the club conducted blood pressure checks for beneficiaries during the commissioning and advised those whose results raised concerns on the steps to take.
He urged the health centre to maintain the donated equipment and ensure that it remained available for patients, adding that the club hoped its intervention would improve the experience of women attending the facility.
Officer-in-Charge of Igboefon Primary Health Centre, Matron Aderonmu Toyin, described the donation as a major intervention for the facility, where she said she had worked for five years.
She disclosed that the centre had 22 chairs and that she had submitted requests for additional seating for three years before the Rotary Club’s intervention. The facility also had to ration its blood pressure machines, sometimes moving one between the area used for maternal services and the outpatient unit.
Aderonmu recounted an incident in which a woman in labour slumped and had to be taken from one hospital to another before she was eventually revived, describing the experience as one of the difficult situations associated with the facility’s limitations.
While welcoming the new equipment and other donations, she appealed for additional infrastructure, particularly air conditioning, to make the health centre more comfortable for patients and staff.
One of the beneficiaries, Endurance Pius, a mother of twins, welcomed the infant beds, mosquito nets, food items and cash assistance.
Pius explained that she had been seeking protection against mosquitoes for her babies and was grateful to receive the nets and beds. She also reported that the new chairs had improved conditions in the waiting area, although she noted that more seating was still needed inside the facility.
Assistant District Secretary of the Rotary Club of Eko, Dr Ogechukwu Ogbonnaya, described the intervention as an example of how partnerships could help community organisations address healthcare needs.
He noted that the donations supported Rotary’s focus on Disease Prevention and Maternal and Child Health through the provision of mosquito nets, blood pressure equipment and blood sugar testing devices.
Ogbonnaya added that the club had secured support from corporate organisations and other partners, including Flour Mills of Nigeria and the orphanage foundation, rather than relying solely on members’ personal funds.
He urged other service organisations to sustain their community interventions, noting that collective efforts could extend assistance to more people.
Charter President of the Rotary Club of Eko Signature, Rotarian Davina Ogbue, explained that the health centre was selected after the club assessed the needs of several facilities.
According to her, the club initially considered a health centre in Langbasa but found that it was already receiving support from the Lions Club. Another facility was also considered, but the club eventually moved on after its engagement did not progress as expected.
The Igboefon facility was selected after its staff promptly identified their needs and welcomed the proposed assistance.
Ogbue said the club’s projects were guided by Rotary’s seven areas of focus, with each club expected to undertake at least seven projects during a Rotary year.
The health centre intervention followed a project commissioned the previous day involving the rehabilitation of a school’s sewage system and toilets under the Basic Education and Literacy, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene areas of focus.
She noted that the club also planned projects addressing environmental protection, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, as well as community economic development.
On the latter, Ogbue explained that food distribution alone was not sufficient to achieve sustainable community development, making plans for empowerment initiatives an important next step.
The club relies on a combination of corporate sponsorships and support from individuals to fund its projects.
Ogbue, who works with Dharmatan Nigeria Limited, said her company had supported the club’s school project, while Chairman of Dharmatan Gas and Power Products Limited, Felix Molokwu, and his wife, a past president of the Rotary Club of Victoria Garden City, sponsored the upgrade of the health centre’s waiting room and outpatient unit, as well as the medical equipment, consumables and mosquito nets.
She added that the club had discussed maintenance arrangements with the health centre’s management. The seating was selected with durability in mind, including removable padding that could be replaced if damaged. The chairs placed outdoors were not padded because of their exposure to water and other environmental conditions.
The club intends to conduct periodic follow-ups to ensure that its donations remain usable and continue to benefit the community.
Ogbue encouraged other service organisations to continue supporting communities despite the challenges of fundraising, adding that partnerships with companies and well-meaning individuals remained important to expanding the reach of humanitarian projects.