By: Tunde OLOFINTILA
Let me assume the liberty to start by saying the obvious. Each country on planet earth has its motto which in most cases is based on its history and/or other cherished peculiarities. But be that as it may, I have always been thrilled and fascinated by the motto of the Republic of Liberia, to wit: ‘The love of liberty brought us here’.
Indeed, it was the love of liberty that brought the Liberians to their present location in the West Africa sub-region to live in peace and harmony and enjoy the bliss of an egalitarian society. This was Liberians cherish history before the greed, avarice and vaunting ambition of some of its leaders in the recent past stole peace away from Africa’s oldest republic and forced it to witness unnecessary and avoidable ruinous wars where about 250,000 lost their lives, several thousand lost limbs and (means of) livelihood as well as ambulatory and non-ambulatory properties.
If it was the love of liberty that brought the first independent African state to its present location in 1848, then it is safe and reasonable to say that it was the appreciation of uncommon decency and utmost courtesy extended to Dr. Monisade Adeyemo, an American-based Specialist in Family Medicine and owner of Lakewood Family Clinic, Maryland, USA, by ABUAD Multi-System Hospital in time past that has propelled her to donate medical equipment worth millions of Naira to Afe Babalola University Multi-System Hospital, (AMSH), Ado-Ekiti.
In addition to the uncommon display of courtesy and decency to the Medical Practitioner when she used the ABUAD Facility which has been endorsed by leading Healthcare Stakeholders as the “most well-equipped Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Adeyemo also commended the massive infrastructure and the quality healthcare services on offer in the Hospital.
Her position is in tandem with that of the Hospital’s first Cardiovascular patient, Dr. Bukola Balogun, a foreign-trained and experienced Medical Doctor, who described the Hospital in superlative terms after her successful procedure.
Her words: “Looking at the Hospital from outside, it is simply gigantic. It is a brand-new edifice. It is very clean with anti-slippery devices in place. When I was ushered into my Ward after the preliminaries, I was wondering whether I was in a Hospital Ward or a 7-Star hotel. The room is spacious, with Flat screen Television, Refrigerator and Microwave among others”.
She added: “During the procedure proper, I was seen by a team of Professors who told me the dos and the don’ts. The theatre is fantastic. Each bed has its own monitor that runs various tests ranging from Blood Sugar, Blood Pressure to pulse among others.
”I have been to many theatres in the world bearing in mind that I had my First Degree from Moscow, the Second from London and the Third from the United States. I have not seen any theatre better than this one. It is awesome. It is fantastic.
”During the procedure, I saw everything that went on, but I was not fully conscious as I was mildly sedated. It was a good experience. I am lucky to be here and to be seen by professors and senior Doctors. It is very good that this type of facility is in Nigeria. With this, less people will travel abroad. With the Open-Heart Surgery, which I am told is going on now, this place will be great. It will be better known. I congratulate Aare Afe Babalola, a patriot and a selfless man.
Rationalizing her altruistic gesture to AMSH in Ado-Ekiti over the weekend, a visibly impressed Adeyemo said it was her own modest way of giving back to an institution that has continued to save people’s lives in near hopeless situations, including her own, since the Hospital which was commissioned during an elaborate ceremony on October 20, 2017 commenced clinical operations on March 21, 2018.
Her words: “I am a Family Medicine Specialist and a Medical Facility Owner and Operator in the United States of America. Sometimes ago, I was brought to this facility, Afe Babalola Multi-System Hospital, where I received an uncommon courtesy from the staff of the Hospital”.
She added: “At that material time, I suffered from a massive stroke. I was attended to by some concerned and altruistic people and institutions, including Afe Babalola Hospital which played a critical role in my recovery.
“My mission here this afternoon is therefore predicated on what a former American President John F. Kennedy said during his inaugural address on January 20, 1961 that Americans should not ask what America can do for them, but what together Americans can do for the freedom of man. I am here today to see what I can do for my state, Ekiti State, and not particularly what the state or the country can offer me.
“In this regard, Afe Babalola Hospital stands out. I know what Aare Afe Babalola is doing in quality healthcare delivery in faraway United States of America where this university has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with John Hopkins Hospital for the training of ABUAD Medical Students on elective Clinical Posting. All these have motivated me to voluntarily donate these medical consumables to the Hospital today”.
The compassionate medical practitioner called on other Nigerians, both at home and abroad, to learn from her experience by tapping into the revolution that ABUAD Founder and legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has brought into the nation’s medical landscape to ensure quality medical care and preserve lives.
Receiving the medical equipment, the Hospital’s Chief Medical Director, CMD, Dr. Akinola Akinmade, who was assisted by his Deputy, Dr. Steve Oguntola and the Deputy Director of Pharmacy Services, Pharm Oluwatoyin Afolabi, commended Adeyemo’s kind gesture.
According to Akinmade, Adeyemo’s acknowledgement of the Hospital’s giant strides was quite encouraging and would further spur it into increasing the tempo of its affordable health care delivery, not only to Nigerians, but also to all classes of people around the globe.
According to the Orthopedic and Trauma Surgeon, there is hardly any type of low or high-profile health challenges that the Hospital cannot handle, except if it has no name.
For instance, he revealed that the Hospital has just concluded its 44th kidney transplant in the series.
The CMD said since inception, the Hospital had been able to justify and prove to the world the reason why the elder statesman and renowned philanthropist, Aare Afe Babalola, established both his wave-making 16-year-old university and the Multi-System Hospital which has been endorsed by leading Healthcare Stakeholders as the “most well-equipped Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
“Without mincing words, it is already in public domain and continually dotting pages of newspapers around the world that ABUAD Hospital is gradually reducing the menace of outward medical tourism in Nigeria.
“Besides, the issues of poor heath indices and maternal deaths among several others, are fast becoming history, courtesy of Afe Babalola Multi-System Hospital”.
The place of the Multi-system Hospital has been corroborated by the following top rate Medical Educators among several others:
Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, former Minister for Health, who said: “This Hospital will offer us what we hitherto believe cannot happen in this country. It will also improve the poor Health Indicators in Nigeria. With what I have seen here today, this Hospital matches the best in the world, and it will certainly put an end to Medical Tourism outside Nigeria”
Prof. Temitope Alonge, former CMD, University Teaching Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, who said: “I have worked in many Hospitals both here in Nigeria and in Europe. This Hospital beats most Hospitals where I have worked in Europe. This surely will be the answer to outward medical tourism. With what is here in this Hospital, there is no reason why any of our doctors should want to go abroad for their Sabbatical. All they need is here, and
Dr. Yemi Johnson, the Chief Executive of First Cardiology Consultants, Lagos, who said:
“This is my first visit to Ekiti and the ABUAD Hospital was my first stop. This is impressive. I can say without any equivocation that this hospital has more high-tech medical equipment than all the hospitals in Lagos put together. This is most certainly the best-equipped hospital in sub-Saharan Africa”.
Olofintila, ABUAD’s Director of Corporate Affairs, writes from Ado-Ekiti