UCH receives over 250,000 patients annually says Osinbajo

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, revealed that the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, receives an average of over 250,000 new patients annually in the various outpatient clinics. He disclosed this during the commissioning of the Sustainable Development Goals project executed at the apex facility.

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Osinbajo explained that for over seven decades, the college had shown that it is special in every way by playing a crucial role in the training of medical personnel and other health care across the West African region.

The vice president maintained that the institution had witnessed tremendous growth in academic expansion with over 65 departments, among which is the Department of Nuclear Medicine in Nigeria, which was commissioned sometime in 2006.

He said, “I am also reliably informed that the UCH receives over 250,000 new patients in the various out-patient clinics on an annual basis. This is a testament to the hospital’s reputation over the years. It has created a wonderful system where they engage in community-based outreach activities offering primary and secondary health care across the state. This is also highly commendable considering the gaps in our health care delivery system,” he said.

Earlier, the Chief Medical Director, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, said the project was an escalation of the Federal Government’s deliberate policy to sustain the development of healthcare and to support the delivery of improved medical services for the sustainability of the hospital and for the benefits of Nigeria.

He also noted that the ceremony represented a significant contribution made by the government towards the provision of an enabling and conducive environment for the health institutions to render services of international standards.

Prof. Otegbayo, while calling on the government to provide more infrastructural rehabilitation and medical equipment, said the intention of management is to move the institution from the current tertiary to quaternary hospital with a view to competing more favorably among hospitals of contemporary status in the world.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDG, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said with the commitment of President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by the year 2030, the agency is inspired and committed to prioritising key interventions with multiplier effects on multidimensional poverty, such as basic healthcare service provisioning.

She noted that with the COVID-19 pandemic challenging the healthcare system, strategic interventions, such as the comprehensive rehabilitation of UCH and the construction and equipping of a 100-Bed Mother and Child hospital have become imperative.

“Indeed, the primary and secondary effects of COVID-19 and similar pandemics could reverse decades of human development gains and undermine the achievement of the SDGs unless immediate action is taken and sustained. This is what we are doing right here in Ibadan.” She added.

Wumi/Punch