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From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has graduated 68 persons trained on how to take care of the elderly persons (geriatricians) just as it vows to prioritize their care in the institution.
He gave the assurance at the graduation ceremony of the first set of the geriatricians at the UBTH.
Prof. Darlington Obaseki said that among the persons that patronize the hospital, it was observed that the elderlies were more, therefore special care and attention must be given to them and which the hospital is poised to actualize and be the first in the subregion.
“We have a challenged in the country, and the challenge is the percent of the population that is 60 years and above is between 5 and 6. Out of the 200 million population in Nigeria, only 10 million are 60 years and above.
“But the data we have in UBTH shows that the biggest consumers of healthcare are elderly persons. So, there is a disproportionate. So, we are not channelling our time, efforts or resources to match this disproportionate demands. And, that is why what we are trying to do in UBTH since they made me an honorary geriatrician, is to bring this to the forefront, to bring care of older persons to the forefront.
“We have taken so many initiatives in UBTH to prioritize care of older persons. In 2020, we launched a nationwide programme called ” Elderly Friendly Hospital Initiative”. Hospitals nationwide, the processes are not factored in to look after or prioritize older persons.
“How do we help them? That is why we initiated that programme that was commissioned by the then Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire in 2020.
“But as Prof Obehi Akoria came back after her tenure as commissioner in the state, we had several discussions and we realized that there is another need, another gap and another huge demand that had not been met. Before now, we got a lot of applications from different persons as volunteers that they want to work on our geriatric ward. As the applications keep coming in, I handed them over to Prof Akoria.
“That gives us the hints that there is a problem in the open society. We begin to ask who are those looking after our fathers, our mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles and aunties?
“Is there any formal structured training or even formal training given to them? That is where these whole ideas came about, that who should be doing this?
“That we should train those cadre of staff or persons to look after our loved ones.
“These are the problems that we see that made us to say, it is our responsibility as healthcare workers, top notch professionals in the healthcare space to actually train those cadre of persons, and that is where the idea came from.
“And, we are happy today to say that at least 75 persons applied from all over the country. And, person from Adamawa even applied. Some came from Delta, Ebonyi states and across the country.
“The 75 persons for this three weeks intensive training. But, in spite of the numbers, not everybody graduated. At the end of the training, 68 persons finally graduated and they are all here today for the graduation ceremony.
“The graduands are the first cohorts of this programme. We tend to institutionalize this programme.
“This is a trail blazing programme in the country. Again, we are taking a lead as we want to do in UBTH.
“We tend to make this a full Diploma course soon. Our vision or such vision in training has always been to make UBTH to excel as a continuing learning and training hub in West Africa subregion.
“In fact the way we crafted it was to make UBTH a Harvard of West Africa. What that means is that you do know that when people want to contest for position (s), the next thing is that you see them bringing in certificates from everywhere such as Harvard certificates. Some of them just go to the school take pictures by the post and said that they are Harvard trained.
“We want a situation that when you bring UBTH certificates anywhere in the world you will be well sought after”, Obaseki said.
On the part of the former Edo State Commissioner of Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, 60 years and above experience multiple challenges in access quality care.
She said the Elder Friendly Hospital Initiatives was a deliberate intervention by the UBTH to make hospitals in Nigeria more suited to meet Order persons needs. And, they appointed ourselves to pilot it to show that it can be done.
For Dr Seun Kubeyinje, he said
150 persons indicated interest for the programme, 121- applied through online, 29 picked up a physical form from the elders’ ward while 52.9 percent of the applicants are Bachelor Degree holders. 18.2 percent, PGD and 32.20 percent are SSCE holders.
He said 75 of those that indicated interest did not go ahead with the programme as a result of financial, logistics constraints among others.
According to him “75 persons completed their registration by paying the required registration fees. But, along the line so many issues came up making some to drop out by the way side.
“One stopped due to bereavement as a result of father’s death. Some dropped due to challenge of ethical issues while some could not meet with up their project requirements.
“So, only 68 persons were able to finish the programme and graduating today”
