Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun has inaugurated a 12-member governing council for the state owned Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu.
Inaugurating the council on Monday in Abeokuta, Abiodun promised to restore the institution to an enviable height.
The governor, who restated his commitment to giving due attention to educational institutions in the state, pledged to accord OOUTH “a special attention” because of its importance to the health of the people.
“This underscores the place of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH).
” OOUTH is not just an institution of higher learning but also a research, medical training and healthcare facility.
” This means that the quality of medical professionals produced by this institution will go a long way in determining the quality of medi-care available for the people in our dear state, and even beyond.
“Therefore, while I will restate that all our educational institutions will receive their due attention from our administration, OOUTH will continue to receive a special attention because of these combined responsibilities,” he said.
Abiodun recalled that OOUTH was the first government establishment he visited upon assumption of office in May, 2019.
He noted that various government interventions which followed the visit had reversed the dwindling fortune of the institution.
“It is no gainsaying that on Friday, July 26, 2019, we inaugurated an Administrative Panel on OOUTH.
“That is just two months after the inauguration of our administration and since then, OOUTH has begun to experience a new lease of life,” he said.
He listed some of the interventions as upgrade of the Isolation Centre to an international standard and the procurement of medical equipment like the Digital X-ray machine.
Others, according to Abiodun, are renovation of the Radiology Department, ongoing renovation of Renal the Unit and procurement of Dialysis Machine and 60 new paediatrics beds for the institution.
Abiodun added that the government also recruited all cadres of medical and healthcare personnel at OOUTH including doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and medical laboratory scientists.
“This is yet another indication of the importance we attach to the institution.
” We are happy that we have been able to resolve most of the issues that led to the dwindling fortunes of the institution before we came,” he said.
Abiodun, who described members of the governing council as ” men and women of impeachable integrity,” told them that they were holding the offices in trust for the people of Ogun.
“To the members of the Council, I congratulate you for being found worthy from amongst many equally qualified sons and daughters of Ogun.
“We are placing on your shoulders a public trust.
” You have been carefully selected because of your diverse wealth of experience, expertise and wisdom and on you we are investing the future of human capital development in healthcare, research and medical scholarship.
“It is important to remind you that you are coming at a crucial time in the history of medicare in the world.
“The challenges of COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, Ebola and other hitherto unknown ailments cannot defy solution with men and women like you providing leadership for OOUTH.
” The OOUTH too is a baby that must live and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her contemporaries across the globe.
“At a critical economic period in our national and state development, we need to lay all good hands like yours on the deck:
” Therefore, I charge you to appreciate the enormity of the assignment.
” I expect you to be innovative and adaptive. In fact, you may have to make bricks without straws. You may have to think not just outside the box, but in fact without the box.
“We expect to see new ways of doing things and ensure a sustainable legacy of efficiency and effectiveness that will continue to make OOUTH a leader, that it should be (and it is), amongst teaching hospitals in Nigeria and outside our shores.
“OOUTH should support our hub-and-spoke healthcare policy that puts primary healthcare at the kernel and OOUTH as the apex (tertiary) state-owned healthcare facility / institution.
” It is now your job to ensure that OOUTH will henceforth produce the quality of medical professionals that will be the signpost of Ogun State just like our forbears in medical practice have done.
“We are a state known for all round excellence.
“We must remember that this is the home state of the First Professor of Medicine in Nigeria, Emeritus Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi;
” Ogun is the home state of the first Professor of Psychiatric Medicine in Nigeria, Prof. Thomas Adeoye Lambo;
“Ogun is the Home State of the First Female Professor of Medicine, Professor Oyinade Olurin;
” Ogun is the home state of the renowned Pediatrician, Prof. Olikoye Ransome- Kuti; and his activist younger brother, Dr. Beeko Ranome-Kuti.
“In the private practice, this is the home state of Dr Sonny Kuku, a co-owner of the popular EKO hospital and of course, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, the youngest professor of any medical speciality at 32, in Africa.
“As an administration, we appreciate the fact that we carry a heavy burden of a proud legacy in medical practice and very many other fields of human endeavour,” he said.
The governor restated his administration’s commitment to the continued development of all sectors of the state.
The Chairman of the Governing Council is Dr Adekunle Hassan.
The members are Dr (Mrs) Bisola Shodipo-Clark Mr Sammy Ogunjimi, Mr Solu Abimbola, Dr Peter Adefuye; (Chief Medical Director, OOUTH) and Prof. Tola Olatunji , (Provost, College of Health Sciences, OOUTH).
Others are Prof. Adediwura Jaiyesimi, (Representative of the Senate, OOU), Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, OOU) and Dr (Mrs) Bunmi Fatungase (Chair, Medical Advisory Council (OOUTH).
The members also include Dr Oluwole. Kukoyi (Representative of the Nigeria Medical Association),
Pharmacist Lekan Asuni (representative of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria) and Dr. Solomon Sokunbi ( Deputy Director, Hospital Services, Ogun Ministry of Health).
NAN
