By Doris Obinna
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, Prof. WasiuAdeyemo has assured that his administration will continue to collaborate with the Federal Government and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to achieve the four-point agenda of President Bola Tinubu in ensuring quality healthcare delivery in the country.
He also said efforts are ongoing by the federal government and the ministry to address the challenge of mass exodus of health practitioners from the country known as Japa syndrome.
The CMD who stated this to mark his one year in office decried the menace of doctors exiting the country to find ‘greener pasture’ in other countries, assured that the government is committed to ensuring that doctors are well encouraged.
“Basically when we talk about the reason people leave the country, you will mention poor hospital equipment and remuneration. But in the last one year, the government has been spending a lot of money to put in infrastructure and they have constituted a committee to address other issues bedeviling our health system,” he said.
Adeyemo who said salary increment was a central solution in curbing the menace of Japa syndrome assured that the federal government is on top of it.
Recounting his achievements in the last one year as the Chief Administrator of LUTH said, “the last one year has been very eventful and successful. On the assumption of office, I was faced with three major tasks; completion of projects by the last administration, pursuing my own vision for the hospital and lastly pursuing the vision of the president and the Federal Ministry of Social Welfare, which I have been able to successfully undertake.
“The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare developed a four point agenda to drive the objective of the President in the health sector.
“This agenda includes, improving quality of governance and leadership of hospitals, regulatory capacity and agencies under the ministry, improving population health, promoting medical industrialization and improving health security and invention in public health and my administration will ensure that we bring this to reality.”
The CMD also stated that the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre commissioned by the last administration is the single largest cancer centre in West Africa and has provided care to over 11,000 patients since 2019 when it was commissioned, thereby saving the country millions in foreign exchange that would have been expended on medical tourism.
He noted that LUTH is now a go-to hospital for cancer management in West Africa and is even attracting clientsfrom abroad.
“For comprehensive cancer care, the federalgovernment has also committed to building a nuclear medicine centre at LUTH ofwhich the MoU was signed recently at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
“This is a multi-billion naira projectthat will make available PET scan, cyclotron and radio-pharmacy to complementthe already existing cancer management facilities at LUTH.”
The FG has also made funds available tothe hospital to upgrade endoscopic surgical services in paediatric surgery,general surgery, urology and gastroenterology.
“Endoscopic procedures, otherwise notpossible a few years ago, are now being carried out in LUTH. Other hospitalsnow refer patients who require video-bronchoscopy to LUTH,” he explained.
Adeyemo, who also disclosed that effortsare ongoing to establish a cardiac catheterization laboratory at LUTH in 2024,among many other infrastructures noted that the effort was driven by theFederal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare under the leadership of Prof.Muhammed Ali Pate and Dr Tunji Alausa.