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Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has lamented the poor state of the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, describing it as “worse than deplorable.”
The governor, who paid an inspection to the state teaching hospital on Sunday, said the buildings and facilities in the hospital were substandard.
Abiodun added that the report he received about the hospital was disheartening, adding that that was what prompted his visit to the health facility.
He, however, said his government would set up a committee which would comprise stakeholders and practitioners in the health sector to restore the glory of the teaching hospital.
The governor said, “This hospital at a point in time was one of the best university teaching hospitals in this country and its Faculty of Medicine was number one in the country, but today we have lost the reputation.
“This visit was informed by my meeting with sector heads in the Ministry of Health like the Permanent Secretary, medical directors of different hospitals and the members of the management board.”
He further complained that despite the fact that the OOUTH was the first and only teaching hospital in the state, the report he received about its condition was disheartening.
Abiodun added, “I thought I should come here to see things for myself. This place is substandard, I am going to sit down and look at how best this place would start working perfectly.
“It is worse than deplorable and I intend to immediately put together a team of consultants and members of the sector after I get a formal report from the medical director and his team.
“I would set up a team to immediately begin how to look at the approach that would make this place functional as it should be.”
Earlier, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee to the OOUTH, Dr Oluwabunmi Fatungbase, said the hospital lacked adequate medical personnel and was also contending with inadequate bed space.
She appealed to the governor to provide building facilities for the hospital so as to meet up with its daily challenges.
Fatungbase added, “The medical facility started years back as a general hospital and we had probably about 100 bed-spaces at that time, but when we started the teaching hospital, our facility was expanded and we have about 310 bed-spaces now.
“You cannot imagine having a health facility with between 100 and 300 bed-spaces. It is overused and exhausted. We have contracted space, we need to expand, and we need more equipment to treat patients.
“Our inpatients are between 7,000 and 8,000 but the same number of personnel that have been managing the old 100 bed-spaces are the same ones we have.
“We need more personnel. We need more infrastructure and more equipment to work with to be able to serve the Ogun State citizenry better.”
Meanwhile, Abiodun has promised to pay the hospital bill of a police officer attached to the Sagamu division of the Nigeria Police Force, Adejoh Veronica, who was delivered of a set of triplets at the hospital on Friday.
The governor made the promise while on a facility tour of the hospital on Sunday.
Abiodun said he would pay the hospital bill so as to reduce the burden she might have gone through as she delivered of the triplets through caesarean section.
The governor, who was in company with his wife, Bamidele, congratulated the mother of the triplets.
The Head of Department, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, OOUTH, Dr Olusoji Jagun, while appreciating the governor, said the woman had in the past been delivered of two sets of twins and two single babies.
The Head of Department, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, OOUTH, Dr Olusoji Jagun, while appreciating the governor, said the woman had in the past been delivered of two sets of twins and two single babies.
The mother of the triplets, who is an indigene of Benue State, appreciated the governor for the gesture.
