May His name be praised!!! I feel truly blessed!!! I have been expressing the report of the inaugural Agape Love medical mission held October 9-13, 2017 in Iree, Osun State, Nigeria in one sentence: “It is more than we expected, and just as much as we prayed and hoped for.”My illustrious cousin, Tpl. Dr. Bunmi Ajayi, his devoted and diligent wife, their entire family and staff were simply fantastic. He did everything to make things work superbly. The King’s Council consisting of all the Chiefs of Iree; the leadership of Iree Progressive Association; the Local Government Council leadership, as well as the religious leaders in the town, were very welcoming and supportive. The set-up at the Premier Club occurred Tuesday evening. Areas were mapped out for Patient Registration, Nurse’s Station, Medical Screening, Pharmacy, Triaging, Dental Work, Doctor’s Rooms, and visual screening for eyeglasses.
We started off Wednesday morning at 8:30 with prayers. A little over 100 people were already present at that time. We ended up seeing about 250 people on the first day, over 300 on the second day and over 200 on the third day which was intended to be 1/2 day.
There were 4 other physicians that assisted us but not all of them were available every day. Dr. Obebe was the lone Dentist, who donated the equipment and brought an assistant with him. In addition to Mr. Yemi Odesina, a seasoned nurse from the US, there were 10-12 local nurses, student nurses and medical assistants. We had about 8 people who were either lab technologists, pharmacy assistants, IT manager, as well as a pharmacist who helped our own Pharm. Femi Akinwale from the US. My ever-diligent partner, Dr. Funmilayo Adegbile, who is a scientist/clinical pharmacologist was the major general of the entire operation. We even had a Venerable, another engineer (besides engineer Bunmi), a retired medical technologist, among others, on our staff of between 28 and 30.
Everybody worked tirelessly, hardly stopping for the bathroom or refreshment. Needless to say, the people were very grateful and we felt blessed to be able to provide the services and meet their medical needs.
My sincere appreciation goes to everyone who contributed in one way or the other to make this inaugural medical mission a reality. Indeed, ‘this is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our sight” – Psalm 118:23.
-Dr. Gideon Adegbile-
