Lions Club International District 404 A1 will on November 19 hold a fundraiser for its proposed N200m Olusola Dada Renal Dialysis Centre to be built at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
This was disclosed during a November 15 pre-launch press event attended by the clubs executives including past District Governor Laitan Onalaja and past Multiple Council Chairperson Kola Oyekanmi.
The launch of November 19 at the Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos will be co-chaired by LUTH’s Prof Kayode Odusote.
The proposed dialysis centre is a project conceived by the late District Governor of Lions District 404 1A, Chief Olusola Dada, who died on July 17 at the Murtala Muhammed Airport after his arrival from Chicago where he had just been inducted alongside other governors-elect at the international convention.
Before his death, Dada reportedly visited LUTH and inquired about critical medical services lacking at the institution. Prof Odusote had spotlighted the lack of a functional dialysis centre to which the philanthropist immediately bought into it.
Olatunbosun Okpeseyi, the new District Governor of District 404 A1, elected to complete the tenure of the late Chief Dada, had subsequently shown commitment to the actualisation of the pet project of his predecessor.
The proposed centre, which Odusote assured would be completed in the next 10 months, is to be named after the man who conceived it. Already, a company that will supply the dialysis machines is on a standby while LUTH is ready to operationalize the centre once it is completed.
Odusote, a professor of medicine and former director, West Africa Health Organisation, affirmed that the actualization of the centre will put LUTH in a position to offer better services to the society.
LUTH’s first dialysis centre, built in 1981, had only two machines that broke down frequently. The proposed dialysis centre will be a state-of-the-art centre equipped with 30 dialysis machines, each handling two or three sessions a day and about 2000 cases a month.
Prof Odusote said, “We are appealing to people’s conscience. People need help and we need more people to come on board.”
The dialysis centre, according to him, will be run on a platform of a sustainable partnership between Lions Club and LUTH in a way that will ensure its service is affordable to the public.
The launch, which will be held at Harbour point, Victoria Island is expected to be attended by Lions Club members, service partners and friends.