By Olimatou Coker
The Premier Group Foundation Trust (TPGFT) over the weekend provided free health services outreach outpatient clinics to the people of Sotuma Sere and its surrounding communities in Upper Region River (URR).
The aim of the organization is to help the less privileged people in the communities across the country.
Speaking, Sankung Minteh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of the TPGFT Foundation, said the first thing that inspired him to form this organization is that there are so many donors coming to The Gambia trying to help back their communities and if they can do it why not him, “A times we receive patients at the hospital who have an infection on their hands and also diabetes patients that don’t know their status. All these are issues that inspired me to take up the foundation to the rural Gambia where standard access to health care is very difficult.”
He explained that they don’t have any direct link with the Ministry but believed that they are complimenting the Ministries effort directly or indirectly. Said, they link per say because the moment you are engaged in health you are directly linked with the Ministry because you have to do it in accordance with the laws of the land .
“Since the beginning of the outreach, apart from our first outreach, we usually see more than five hundred patients.”
He also revealed that the next step for the organization is that they want to expand what they are doing but that cannot be done without funding. The organization contributes as a team that is how they fund ourselves. “Our next move is if we have funds we will do more but we cannot go out there and tell people to find us. We share it on different media platforms and If anyone sees what we are doing is beautiful, they can find it, that what we are doing is beautiful, they can find it but we believe this is something beautiful and very important.”
He said that as part of their outreach, they do screening for hypertension and diabetes. “So we screen and if test positive we send you to direct you to appropriate information that will help out the patient not to spread the disease because it is contagious.”
Binta Baldeh, event planner of the foundation, “we first started this outreach in Tanja, Baddibu, Kiang and Choya and todays outreach is our 5th engagement this is really going well because as an organization our aim is meant to help the less privileged people in the communities across the country”.
She described the turnout as a very good one since they are expecting to see at least over 300 patients.
“ we are happy to know that what we doing is appreciated by people,”
She added that in the next 3 month they are targeting to reach out to the people in the kombos
She urges all the Gambians who are here in the country and abroad as well to join hands and help compliment the government’s efforts even though the government cannot do it all.
She lamented that giving back to society is their aim and it is something that they plan to do always and will continue doing it. There will be no going back in this that they are doing.
“This organization consists of people from different backgrounds, Some of them are teachers and journalists but most of us are medical practitioners”.
Haggie Kumba Touray, Sotuma Sere Village Health Worker, said this is very important to them although they have a health center at the village but providing a free medical clinic is very welcoming to them.
They thanked the premier group for reaching out to them in rendering such service to them for free.
Haggie Sankanu, VDC member, “we are very happy for such gesture because their are people here whom you know that if they fall sick to ever have to money to buy medicine becomes a very big problem for them”
According to Sankanu, this is the first time they are receiving such assistance in their community in Sotuma
He said 7 villages join them in this engagement.
