Free screening for NCDs exceeds expectations |29 May 2017

The inaugural national screening programme for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which is part of the centennial celebration of the Lions Club International (LCI) has surpassed expectations.

This project, targeting adults above 40 years, diagnoses diabetes, hypertension, obesity and kidney disease.

It was launched yesterday at the Stad Popiler car park by the President of Lions Club Ramu Pillay in the presence of the Minister for Health Jean-Paul Adam, the chief executive (CEO) of the Health Care Agency (HCA) Dr Danny Louange, LCI international director Aruna Oswal, members of the LCI and Lions Club of Seychelles, health officers, among others.

This is a joint venture between the Lions Club of Seychelles, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Airtel.

For the inaugural they had expected between 200 and 300 people but within the first few hours it had exceeded a thousand. As a result, instead of ending at 2pm the event went on until late afternoon.

As this is a nationwide programme, the screening will be done in each district over the coming months to reach a larger audience and increase the MoH statistics.

Mr Pillay said he is very proud that one of their dream projects is kicking off.

“The project is expected to benefit a considerable size of the population who are more than 40 years old,” he said.

Minister Adam said the number of people present shows how important the people feel their health is.

“There are more people here today than was expected and if you are here it shows that Seychellois want to make a difference to our health,” he said.

He reassured the public that next weekend another screening will be held for those who did not have the chance to take part in the first one.  

Minister Adam thanked the Lions team of Seychelles for involving the health community in tackling non- communicable diseases.

He also expressed his gratitude to MoH staff, HCA and the citizens for their support and patience.

Mrs Oswal commended Lions Club of Seychelles on this milestone and described Seychelles a “a paradise of service”.

La Gogue resident Anabelle Tirant said “the chance to visit specialists is rare so since the opportunity presented itself I decided to get a check up”.

She said she was not expecting that many people to turn up and there was poor organisation on the part of the organisers as she arrived at 8.15am and was still in a long queue at 11.45am.

Bus driver Allain Isaac said this shows that people do care about their health.

“We always see people fighting to go into Amusement Centre to use up their money and now I’m very happy with this initiative where people fight to go check on their health status. I took this occasion on my day off to have a check up to know my status,” he said.

Mona Fred from Petit Paris who came down very early but then had to go to church came back later on to find herself in a very long queue in the burning sun.

She said she suffers from pain in her right abdomen and when she goes to the clinics they only give her panadol.

“Now I took it upon myself to get my kidneys checked together with the other tests and see if they don’t detect anything,” she said.

The screening programme was followed by a banquet at Le Méridien Fisherman’s Cove for the distribution of District Lions Awards.

As for today, a cataract surgery camp kickstarts at 8.30am at the Seychelles Hospital, followed by the continuation of Lions’ Sight for Kids programme where school children will receive eye glasses in a ceremony being held at the Seychelles Institute for Teacher Education (Site) at 10.30am.

Airtel will also present Lions Club and the Ministry of Health with a cheque.

The formal release of the Lions Centennial Commemorative Stamp will be held at State House tomorrow morning.