The need to address the health challenges of senior citizens in Ijesaland led to the launch of the Ultra-modern Multimillion Naira, Second of its type in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ijesaland Geriatric Centre.
History was made on Thursday 30th June, 2022, when the IJESA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSEMBLY, the Proprietor of Ijesa Health Is Wealth Project formally handed over this landmark health facility to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), for the use of mankind.
The IGC has attended to 286 patients in April 2022, the first month after commissioning; 390 patients in May 2022; and almost 500 as the end of June 2022 the third month of commissioning, thereby recording over 1,100 patients in the first three months of operations.
The well attended handing-over ceremony also witnessed the formal signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the operations of Ijesaland Geriatric Centre; inauguration of the 7-Man Advisory Committee; and the formal presentation of the IGC Assets Register.
The Chairman of the Board of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Alhaji Shehu Ningi who led other Board Members; Top Management; and Staff of OAUTHC to the epoch making ceremony commended the "Strong Will" of Ijesa people as second to none in Nigeria as uniquely demonstrated in conceiving, constructing, equipping and satisfactorily delivering the second but biggest Geriatric Hospital in Nigeria in Ijesaland.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, the Chairman of the Ijesa Health is Wealth Project Management Team, Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi remarked that it is exactly three months ago that this project was commissioned to serve humanity.
"Within the three months, this facility had been immediately deployed to provide medical health services to our teeming elderly in the society. I would like to commend and appreciate the Board, Management, and Staff of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) for swiftly fulfilling the charge of commencing operations from the Project Commissioning date which we gave to them during our joint meeting of Friday, 19th March 2021, and thereby delivering this rare feat, very unlike most projects commissioned in Nigeria, hitting the ground running." He said.
"Now, Ijesaland has delivered far beyond what it has promised the Management of OAUTHC at the Project conception. We have not only provided the Building Infrastructure but we have gone ahead to provide the most modern state of the art equipment sourced from the global topmost medical equipment brands. In addition to these, we have created an alluring, work conducive environment with amenities that would guarantee IGC Doctors and Staff more than home comfort. Moreover, we have paid for additional shipment of medical equipment and supplies worth over N400million from MedShare, USA all in an attempt to make IGC the best in Nigeria and possibly West Africa. We expect the arrival of this additional equipment to revolutionise the operations of Ijesaland Geriatric Centre for the betterment of the health status of Ijesaland in particular and other Nigerians in general.
"Finally, to demonstrate how much the Ijesa people cherish their investment in this First of its kind Community Solely-Sponsored Healthcare Facility, the Ijesa Health Is Wealth Project has gone ahead to procure a comprehensive insurance policy for all these investments with a firm conviction that the management of OAUTHC will sustain this practice.
"We are strongly and sincerely trusting that the management of OAUTHC shall always endeavour at all times that the hard sweat of Ijesa people both at home and in the diaspora who have contributed their hard earned resources to deliver this huge facility shall NEVER BE IN VAIN.
Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi also pleaded with the Board and Management of OAUTHC to kindly do their utmost best in urgently addressing the following observations without further delay:
1. Immediate and full deployment of all the new equipment procured for the hospital
2. Urgent Deployment of additional Doctors, Nurses, and Staff to satisfactorily respond to the daily increase in patients patronage
3. Special appeal to the Board and Management of OAUTHC to kindly extend adequate consideration to personnel of Ijesaland extraction in its recruitment and deployment of Staff to IGC. We are of the belief that such consideration would make IGC more responsive to the needs of the teeming prospective populace it has to daily attend to as our observations have revealed several late coming to work and early closing of personnel who in most cases travel on daily basis from their respective abodes outside Ijesaland.
4. Currently, the IGC runs and operates NOT LIKE AN HOSPITAL BUT LIKE A CIVIL SERVICE SECRETARIAT which opens at 8am and closes at 4pm. We are most passionately pleading with the Board and Management to as a matter of urgency restore a 24/7 operations system, where patients in need could come without hindrance and where all the facilities already in place like the In-patient Ward, Theatre, and Laboratory facilities can be fully utilised.
Ijesa Health Is Wealth Project has heavily invested in providing electric perimeter fencing of the entire hospital; solar powered lightnings that guarantees illumination on the environment throughout the night; and installation of Solar inverter system at the GOPD that guarantees operations 24/7 with electricity.
5. Geriatric hospital comes with its own special and unique treatment features that are often not similar to the conventional hospitals. The elderly who are the focus of Geriatric Centre requires specialised skills and knowledge in attending to the elderly and aged patients. Such mandatory skills and knowledge are usually a top up requirement on the basic medical professionalism which every successful medical practitioner in a Geriatric Centre must possess.
It is only a fair expectation on the part of Ijesa people that these huge financial sacrifices they made would not be allowed to waste.
We would therefore like to appeal that Doctors, Nurses, and Staff of Ijesaland Geriatric Centre be periodically exposed to trending contemporary best practices through trainings and re-training."
Finally, the introduction of an Advisory Committee has been mutually agreed to be inserted in the Memorandum of Understanding that we have just executed. Basically, this body which would meet as at when desired is to provide a window of communication between the IGC Donor, the Ijesa people and IGC Donee, the OAUTHC in a way that occasional feedbacks could be harnessed and shared. Furthermore, it also would serve as a platform through which occasional but not mandatory future financial support could come not to replace the statutory allocations to IGC but rather to complement when the need arises. The 4-Man Representatives from Ijesaland under the able leadership of a veteran Dr(Col) Akin Moses is a representation that will add tremendous goodwill to the relationship between OAUTHC and Ijesaland.
In his closing remarks, Asiwaju Fasuyi appreciated all members of Ijesa Health Is Wealth Project Teams, namely, the Project Management Team (PMT) under his headship; the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (PMEC) ably led by Alhaji Lateef Bakare; and the Project Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) chaired by Prof Isaac Adewole for the sacrifice of their time and other resources in collectively delivering on this project within a record time of 10 months.
"My debt of gratitude goes to all our revered and illustrious Ijesa Daughters, Sons, and Elders both in Nigeria and all our worthy Ambassadors in the diaspora who are always proud of their fatherland for sacrificing all without sparing any effort at repositioning Ijesaland as a new destination for medical tourism in Nigeria. He concluded.
Earlier in his welcome address the OAUTHC Acting CMD, Prof Muyiwa Owojuyigbe appreciated the resoluteness of eminent Ijesa people to dip into their hard earnings and collectively finance this unprecedented massive project. Records put this as the most significant community-sponsored project in Nigeria. This would not have been possible without the unparalleled sense of togetherness.
"There is no gainsaying that government cannot do it all, as our current reality further calls for more community engagement and support. We, therefore, appreciate the Ijesa people for their commitment to contributing their quota to national development.
"The benevolence of the Ijesa people transcends the Geriatric Centre project. The massive turnaround we have witnessed in the Wesley Guild Hospital is a product of the bigheartedness constantly exhibited by the good people of Ijesa." He remarked.
At the completion of the project, the Management Teams are leaving behind a sum of *N109,344,878:00 (ONE HUNDRED AND NINE MILLION, THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT NAIRA ONLY).
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