According to RX Radio Presenters James Onen aka Fatboy and Olive Najjuma, the rate at which government officials are dying calls for Ugandans to adopt the culture of routine health checkups.
The deaths of former Governor of the Bank of Uganda Emmanuel Mutebile who succumbed to Diabetes at 72; and that of the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah at 56 who experienced kidney failure, prompted the Presenters to opine that early diagnosis and treatment would perhaps have helped the deceased to survive.
“True, our health systems are inadequate but also as Ugandans we don't have the culture of running health tests. For instance, medics say that a person needs to carry out general body tests at least once a year. But Fatboy, when did you last do that, if ever? So most of these things are not arrested early enough,” Olive contended.
Fatboy, in response, admitted that it is essential to carry out annual health tests, especially given that he is nearing the age of 50. Despite his strong views against marriage, he gave credence to the idea that a woman will keep on encouraging her partner to have regular medical appointments.
“For all of the issues I have with marriage, perhaps the one benefit I can point to is if you have a wife, at the very least she will be fussy about your health. On one hand, you might think that she is a sweet woman who loves you yet she is secretly doing it for very selfish reasons which in this case is because you are the breadwinner and she needs you around,” he inferred.
However, being a bachelor without anyone to nag him, Fatboy said he had to take it upon himself to remind himself to go for checkups such as prostate tests, given the increasing number of mature males that succumb to prostate cancer.
Olive then promised to remind him to take the tests, a message she would be passing on the radio too. She further appealed to fellow women to undergo regular checkups to avoid treatable diseases from claiming their lives or causing dreadful eventualities.
“Even us ladies, it's important that we get ourselves checked. We need to check for cervical cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and fibroids. The rate at which women in their 30’s are getting cysts and fibroids is alarming,” she said.
She argued that early testing can help a person buy more years when they discover an ailment early and treat it rather than when it is found late and nothing that can be done to cure it.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.