The Psychiatric Hospital and Elderly People’s Home built by Evangelist Ebuka Obi in Aguleri, Anambra State, has begun operations with the rescue and admission of two mentally challenged people.
Obi, founder of Seraphic Homes Foundation and spiritual director of Zion Prayer Movement Outreach, told journalists in Lagos on Saturday that a man and a woman were already receiving care at the new facility. According to him, the man was picked up from Nteje community while the woman was rescued from the Onitsha Main Market area where she had been roaming for some time.
“The two were immediately assessed by psychiatric doctors and other health professionals who started treatment thereafter. They are now being looked after and provided with all the care they need completely free of charge,” he said. He added that the foundation’s rescue team would bring in more people in the coming days.
The psychiatric hospital was commissioned on September 19 by Governor Chukwuma Soludo. Obi disclosed that it cost more than N1.6 billion to build and offers free diagnosis, treatment, medication, rehabilitation, accommodation and welfare support for people with mental health conditions.
Obi said the foundation is “determined to create a society where the mentally challenged are no longer abandoned on the streets, but embraced, treated, rehabilitated and empowered to live meaningful lives after being reintegrated back to society”.
Seraphic Homes Foundation also opened an old people’s home and an orphanage in Mgbirichi, Imo State, in April. Governor Hope Uzodinma commissioned that facility. Obi said the centre provides shelter, food, clothing, education and healthcare for abandoned children, while elderly people without family support are given accommodation and assistance.
He explained that he established the foundation to support people facing hardship. “We run a whole range of programmes which support disadvantaged and impoverished families by providing scholarships for scores of children up to university level, some of which have graduated, as well as funding for patients who are unable to afford life-sustaining treatment and pay hospital bills for various health challenges,” he said.
Obi encouraged members of the public to support the foundation’s work through donations, volunteering or advocacy. He added that plans were underway to replicate these projects in all states of the country. “To serve humanity with all I have is my calling and this is what I am going to do for the rest of my life,” Ebuka Obi added.
