From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A multi-billion naira 100-bed Mother-and-Child Hospital with the state-of-the-art equipment has been inaugurated in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, towards reduction of maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality rates in the state and Nigeria.
The Chairman Senate Committee on Local Content and 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Senator Teslim Folarin, inaugurated the poject at Abonde in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo Central senatorial district.
Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, and Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, also joined in on Tuesday, this week, to inaugurate the project.
Folarin, a three-term senator, said in his remarks on the occasion that he facilitated the project to serve as a relief for UCH, which he described as the only federal tertiary health institution in the state in the area of qualitative healthcare for women and children in Oyo Central Senatorial District.
His words: “The 100-bed Mother-and-Child Hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including operating theatres, recovery rooms, private and general wards, scanning room, consultation rooms and laboratory, ultra-scan machine, vacuum extractor delivery set and an Emergency Cart with full complements. The advanced medical facility also has quarters for doctors and other medical personnel.
“The project was made possible through Office of the Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on SDGs. Therefore, for and on behalf of the good people of Oyo Central Senatorial District and Oyo State at large, I extend most sincerest gratitude to Mr. President and Her Excellency, Mrs. Orelope-Adefulire for the consideration and successful completion of the project. This healthcare facility will be operational as soon as members of management board are appointed.”
Folarin, a former Senate Leader, also gave kudos to the people of Oyo Central for giving him the opportunity to represent them in the Red Chambers of the National Assembly on three different occasions. He also thanked APC leaders and members in Oyo State for the opportunity to fly the ticket of the party in 2019 and 2023 elections.
Speaking during the inauguration, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, a former deputy governor of Lagos State, noted that the project is a strategic intervention directly linked to the achievement of SDG-3 on ‘Quality Health and Well-being for all’ as well as other cross-cutting SDGs. She lauded Folarin for high level of dedication and commitment to ensure the project was approved by Mr. President and completed before his tenure lapses as a federal lawmaker.
The Chief Medical Director of UCH, Prof Otegbayo, described the project as first of its kind to be facilitated by a lawmaker in the state. The medical facility, according to him, is a world-standard and everlasting legacy of Senator Folarin.