Medical workers say placing clinics closer to traders and rural communities could improve early diagnosis and reduce preventable health complications

Health workers have called for functional clinics in markets and underserved rural communities across Nigeria, warning that limited access to basic medical services could delay emergency treatment and contribute to preventable deaths.

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The call was made during a medical outreach for traders at Karu Market in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where health professionals urged governments to take healthcare services closer to communities and workplaces.

Deputy Director of Nursing at the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja, Joy Nwankwo, said greater investment in healthcare was necessary to close persistent gaps in access to basic medical services.

Nwankwo, who is also the founder of the Joyful Rose Health Initiative, said the absence of accessible medical facilities in some communities had contributed to avoidable complications because people often delayed seeking treatment.

Speaking on the theme, “Healthy Lifestyle Choices: Healthy Traders, Wealthy Market,” she said the outreach was intended not only to provide immediate medical assistance but also to highlight health problems that may remain undetected among traders.

Many traders, she explained, spend most of their day at their shops and stalls, making it difficult to leave their businesses for routine medical appointments.

“What I am proposing for Nigerian government is that they should do more. They are trying, but there are some localities that have not been touched.

Even in this market, there is need for them to have a clinic,” Nwankwo said.

She said establishing clinics within or near markets would allow traders to seek medical attention without having to abandon their businesses for long periods.

“Most of our marketers stay in the shop from morning till night.

They sit down in one place, eating so many things that may not really go down well with them as far as health concerns are concerned,” she added.

The market healthcare proposal comes against the wider challenge of ensuring that Nigerians can access basic healthcare without travelling long distances or losing valuable working hours.

Nwankwo said the Joyful Rose Health Initiative targeted about 200 traders during the Karu Market exercise, providing them with medical screening and medication.

The foundation plans to extend the programme to more traders, she said, adding that the exercise was funded through public donations.

Participants underwent checks for blood pressure, blood sugar, malaria, eye health and body mass index.

Nwankwo said regular screening was particularly important because some health conditions could develop without obvious symptoms, allowing them to worsen before a person seeks medical attention.

Medical doctor SomtoChukwu Benson also urged traders and other members of the public to make routine medical examinations part of their healthcare habits.

He identified hypertension, high blood pressure and obesity among conditions requiring greater attention, noting that some people remain unaware that they have chronic illnesses because they rarely undergo medical checks.

“The common health challenge is actually the disregard for medical check-ups. There are a lot of people that have chronic conditions, but they don’t know because they don’t check up,” Benson said.

He advised traders not to wait until symptoms became severe before visiting a healthcare facility.

Benson also highlighted the relationship between obesity, hypertension and diabetes, urging people to pay greater attention to their diets, remain physically active and undergo regular screening.

For some traders at the outreach, the medical checks provided an important reminder of the value of early detection.

One beneficiary, Adamu Abdullahi, said he did not know that he had high blood pressure until he underwent screening at the event.

The discovery, he said, had made him more conscious of the need to monitor his health while continuing with his efforts to earn a living.

The experience illustrates one of the central concerns raised by the health workers: people can continue working and carrying out their daily responsibilities while living with conditions that may not produce obvious warning signs.

The World Health Organisation has repeatedly identified access to essential health services as a key component of universal health coverage, particularly for communities facing financial, geographic and other barriers to care. (who.int)

For Nigeria, taking basic healthcare services closer to markets and rural communities could help address some of those barriers, particularly for informal workers whose livelihoods depend on remaining at their places of business.

The health workers therefore urged governments and other stakeholders to view community-based clinics and regular screening programmes as part of a broader strategy for preventing illness, rather than waiting for people to become seriously ill before receiving care.

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The Karu outreach offered immediate assistance to hundreds of traders, but its wider message was more enduring: bringing basic healthcare closer to where Nigerians live and work could give more people an opportunity to detect health problems early and seek treatment before complications become severe.