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With Funsho Arogundade
Healthcare tycoon, Dr. Babatunde Okewale has every reason to celebrate. When in 1996 he abandoned a promising swish life in the United Kingdom as an obstetrician and gynaecologist to return home to start his clinic and improve on the practice of reproductive health, Lagos, Nigeria didn’t give him a red carpet reception. Rather, it gave him tough examinations: equipment issues, landlord hassles. power issues.
Severally, in those earlier days, the renowned gynaecologist wondered if he had not made a mistake with his reversed migration. Yet, something in him felt otherwise. He had a stubborn optimism. He saw gaps. And those gaps are just opportunities in work clothes. Yes, Nigeria is demanding. It takes everything. But it’s a fertile soil. For every problem, there’s a solution waiting for someone stubborn enough to build it. And he triumphed.
Today, when one mentions Okewale, what comes to mind is fertility and women’s health. His St. Ives Hospital Group has long become something of a holy land for conception. This is because Okewale holds tight to his dream and conviction. His many years of hard work has yielded many accomplishments with the births of ‘miraculous’ babies numbering in their thousands.
Today, the gratitude is loud as Okewale is celebrating three decades of medical excellence and the privilege to build something bigger than him. It has been a month-long celebration with free medical outreach at some communities in the suburbs of Lagos. The celebration climaxed last night Friday July 10 with an exquisite Black-Tie Soiree at the Celebration Gardens on Isaac John Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos. At the event, Okewale hosted valued friends, stakeholders and well-wishers to a feast in appreciation of the important milestone.
To Okewale, he used to think legacy was what you build. But now, he knows it’s what continues when one leaves the room. He is laying systems like brick and mortar because he knows institutions outlive people.
