Follow Us on Google
From Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
in a matter of weeks, wealthy Nigerians who are fond of travelling abroad for sound medical services would have no cause doing so as such healthcare services of international standard would have been properly domesticated by the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Ekiti State, with the commissioning of her recently completed ultra-modern 400-bed teaching hospital.
Built massively on a 60 hectares of land beside the university campus on Poly Road, teaching hospital, according to its founder and President, Aare Afe Babalola, consists of nine blocks that contain 37 huge floors with a central block contain five of the floors.
Babalola said: “We have acquired the state-of-the-art hospital equipment in the teaching hospital and have entered into partnership with reputable players in the global heath industry, there include world renowned Abbot Laboratories, to provide Laboratory Equipment under a special arrangement whereby they will maintain and service Laboratory equipment thereby taking care of one of the major problems of equipment for which Nigeria has become notorious. The modern laboratory equipment are being installed, the Aster Hospital, Dubai, to provide healthcare of international standard for which they are internationally acclaimed especially in surgery. For Aster hospital, the Memorandum of Understanding has been duly executed and this will lead the hospital to carry out 50 free operations to patients to mark the commissioning.
“We also have partnership Project C.U.R.E, in United States of America, to provide modern Hospital Equipment, most of which have arrived and installed. There is a pact with Narula Hospital, India, to provide and install five Modular Theatres as well as Pneumatic Tubes in our teaching hospital. As I speak, seven expatriates are working daily on this project. There is also JNC International, that will provide equipment such as CT Scanners, MRI and Radiology Equipment. Most of the equipment arrived in our university.
“Trigenesis hospital, India, will provide our hospital with Dry Wall partitioning and Cubicle Track while Protech Gas, an international hospital gas producing firm will provide Medical Gas & Oxygen. Work is in final stage on this arrangement just as
“Adler firm in England, will provide Steam Boilers. The College of Pharmacy, Howard University, USA, in conjunction with our Pharmacy department are setting up a factory to manufacture drugs. Bridge of Life (BOL) from USA, are supplying supply Kidney Dialysis Machine, while Care4You Association of Denmark, is partnering with us in the area of supplying equipment and gadgets.
“The teaching hospital is constructed with an accompanying Helipad that will support people/clients being brought in from any part of the country with ease, devoid of the challenges posed by the poor nature of road network in the country.
“The objectives of the teaching hospital to include: bringing quality health care of international standard to Nigerians at affordable cost and make it the Mecca of quality health care delivery, thereby reducing the quantum of foreign exchange Nigerians expend on medicare abroad both in the short and long run.
“The teaching hospital will checkmate the annual wastage of foreign exchange on people going for treatment outside the country.”
He said the hospital would also provide over 2000 jobs for Nigerians and hundreds of employment for expatriates when it eventually commences operation in October.
Meanwhile, residents in Ekiti who are neighbours to the university lauded Babalola for his initiative. Ajayi Odun, a youth leader and resident of the community, said: “The soon to be commissioned teaching hospital of the Afe Babalola university would further liberalised our community and many other adjourning communities such as Ago-Iwoye, Aduloju and others from being a rustic community.
“Our young people would have jobs as many of them have been already engaged in some works during the building of the hospital complex. We will also enjoin sound healthcare, which would be available at our beck and call. We are so happy for this development and appreciate Aare Babalola for this.”
