Mr. Desmond Elliot, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has provided extra free health insurance to 400 senior citizens of the Surulere Local Government Area.
Elliot (APC-Surulere 1) stated this during the Mega Empowerment Programme he organised for Surulere locals on Thursday in Lagos.
Recall that 250 Surulere people benefited from Elliott’s free health insurance programme in October 2021.
100 young people from the Surulere community were also included in the initiative, according to Elliott, the chairman of the House Committee on Ministry and Parastatals.
The politician claimed that the programme was primarily intended for elderly people, widows, and people from lower socioeconomic statuses, and community members who could not afford to pay for their medical care.
“I started this free health insurance for the elderly people in 2021, and we have now upgraded it this time around to treat more ailments that are common with the elderly people.
“So our health insurance programme now covers treatment of ailments such as arthritis, drugs for high blood pressure, rheumatism that usually affected the elderly people.
“Hence, we are having additional 400 elderly people which are now added to the ones we had in 2021 and we also included 100 youths into the programme.
“In all, 500 residents in my constituency have been added to the 250 people that benefitted from this scheme in October,” he said.
Regarding the method of selection, the congressman stated that it was available to any Surulere resident, regardless of tribe, religion, or political affiliation.
He said that Toptee Medical Center had been chosen to offer medical services to the 500 new residents.
In addition, Elliott said that five LAGRIDE buses will be given to young people without jobs in five of the nine wards in his district.
He stated, “My constituency has nine wards, but we’re starting with five and will provide the other four wards in the following batch.”
In essence, he claimed, he was working to make sure his neighbours profited from the state.
Elliot revealed that in order to allow the bus’s beneficiaries to operate, he had paid off all outstanding debts as well as the first initial deposits.
The lawmaker added that in order to financially empower small business owners, he also collaborated with EcoBank to distribute 200 Point of Sales (POS) machines to them.
He said: “Our first scheme is to make sure 200 community members are given POS machines and they will be given N20,000 as startup capital to operate the device.
“I am very passionate about making sure that everybody in my constituency benefit from all these programmes we have put in place for them.
“We are not doing these laudable programmes to solicit for their votes, for us, we are empowering them because they are things we should do as their representatives.
“We are here to represent the people and you can see the level of acceptance and it happened because the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila has done amazing lots.”
Speaking out, Dr. Temitope Oludayo of the Toptee Medical Center’s Lead Team praised the lawmaker for the excellent health initiative programme.
Every Tuesday, Oludayo said, the clinic would offer health talks to the older residents of the area, and every two weeks, they would receive free medications.
The facility was located at 40 Ogunlana Drive in Surulere, Lagos, she added, noting that they will receive an ID card for proper identification.
Additionally, Mr. Bamidele Yusuf, the Executive Chairman of the Surulere Local Government Area, regarded Eliot as a good listener with a genuine concern for his constituents.
“We thank God for persons like him in Surulere, and I pray that God will continue to bless us all. I want you to appreciate him for this laudable project,” he said.
Mr. Wemimo Odumosu, the chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC), a group of 56 CDAs in the Surulere local government area, advised other public officials to follow in his footsteps.
No matter how small it may appear, according to Odumosu, if the people had someone to pay for their medical expenses, it would go a long way.
