From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Chief Medical Director of Afe Babalola University Multi-System Hospital (AMSH), Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Akinola Akinmade, has said that the hospital has “all it takes to successfully handle whatever nature of ailments faced by any class of Nigerians, whether rich or poor, lowly, or highly placed, instead of them travelling abroad to seek medical services.”
He posited, “There is hardly any tertiary health facility in Nigeria and Africa that is as equipped, or that can boast of the volume of sophisticated medical equipment, including hordes of cross-border personnel, that ABUAD hospital parades.”
Akinmade disclosed that late last year AMSH entered into a formal collaboration with Marengo Asia Hospitals, a leading medical group based in India, to deepen surgical excellence and expand the scope of specialised procedures, all in a bid to provide quality healthcare services to patients.
The CMD made the remarks during a press conference with newsmen at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, on the latest breakthroughs by the hospital, where he expressed regret over the recent death of a former Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, saying AMSH has all known medical wherewithal to do everything humanly possible to keep the former president alive for a much longer time, if he were brought to the facility, especially in record time.
He commended the founder of AMSH, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), for his huge investments in providing quality healthcare and in ensuring that the hospital continues to meet the health demands of people across all strata of the country and beyond.
“Only late last year, the hospital, under the visionary leadership of our founder, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), went a step further by going into a formal collaboration with Marengo Asia Hospitals, a leading medical group based in India.
“This partnership was established to deepen surgical excellence and expand the scope of specialised procedures available to patients, right here in Nigeria.
“Since the commencement of this collaboration, the Marengo Asia surgical team, working alongside our dedicated Nigerian clinicians, has successfully completed nine kidney transplant procedures here at AMSH.
“In addition to transplant services, our Renal Centre is equipped with 27 modern dialysis machines, including dedicated machines for patients with infectious conditions, such as hepatitis and similar ailments. As we speak, the centre conducts a minimum of over 400 dialysis treatment sessions each month, thereby making it one of the busiest and most comprehensive dialysis programmes in the country.”
Akinmade said, following the hospital’s success story, the Marengo Asia team had also expressed strong interest in expanding their services into endourological surgeries and erectile dysfunction interventions, which are areas often under-represented but critical to the health of men.
“We see this as a vital step towards making AMSH not only a national reference point but a global destination for both complex, patient-centred care.
“Beyond all of these surgical milestones, and as initiated and directed by the founder, AMSH continues to uphold its social mandate through the introduction of what is known as the ‘Afe Babalola Abiye Programme’, a charitable maternal and child health initiative, launched late last year.
“It will interest you to note that under this programme, we have attended to well over 500 pregnant women, providing them with completely free antenatal care, and also conducted more than 150 deliveries, at no cost to the patients or their families.”
He revealed that, in recognition of the hospital’s achievements, the National Healthcare Excellence Award Group recently gave an award of recognition to AMSH as “Centre of redefining standards in hospital management, clinical delivery, patient experience, and innovation within Nigeria’s healthcare system.”
Akinmade, however, expressed regret that despite AMSH’s giant strides, the hospital has continued to experience significant infrastructural challenges, including the poor condition of access roads leading to the hospital, which remains a major barrier for patients, emergency transport, and visiting partners, and the non-full take-off of the Ekiti Airport project, which holds promise for expanding access and enabling faster referrals.
“These challenges are real obstacles to life-saving care, especially in times of critical cases. We therefore use this medium to appeal once again to all stakeholders to urgently intervene in improving the access roads and fast-track the operationalisation of the airport infrastructure in Ekiti State.”
