By Christy Anyanwu
• Mr. Oyekan Babatunde, DGND, Rtn. Bukola Bakare, President, Rtn. (Engr.) Adeyemi Adesina, CMD, Prof Adetokunbo O. Fabanwo, AG Ezennie Obioha, DGE, Rtn. Femi Adenekan
As a way of addressing the challenges of accommodation faced by relatives whose loved ones are hospitalised,
The Rotary Club, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, has embarked on constructing a 36-bed apartment at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos.
President of the club, Adeyemi Adesina, said Rotary was supporting LASUTH with the building so that relatives of patients admitted at the hospital could have a decent place to reside and do basic things such as have their bath, rest and have a change of clothes.
He explained: “When we met with the management of LASUTH, they confirmed that one of their major needs was to have a place where people who came with patients could put up, instead of them loitering by the wards, sleeping on the floor and in car parks.
“These are some of the focus areas for Rotary and we decided to support humanity. The theme for this year says ‘Create Hope in the World’. At times, we have people who have patients in intensive care for three months. A lot of families don’t have the financial capacity to stay in a hotel. That is why we are supporting LASUTH by providing a 36-bed caregiver apartment.
“It is a storey-building apartment where patients’ relatives can come relax, have their bath, change their clothing and rest before they go back to their loved ones. This will eliminate loitering and sleeping in cars by relatives and caregivers to hospitalized patients.
A sum of N50 million was earmarked for the project at a fundraising last year. But N50 million, as of today, is child’s play regarding the skyrocketing prices of building materials due to inflation.”
Service project chair, Busolami Idowu, said the project would particularly help parents of children admitted to the paediatric wards to lodge temporarily and stay with their wards, noting that it was going to be free.
He added: “We are doing this project to impact humanity. The project is a great partnership and, by the grace of God, it will become reality before the end of July 2024.”
Chief Medical Director (CMD), LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fambanwo, said when he assumed duty, he realised that, in more developed countries, when a relation/dependant had a health challenge and was in a facility, it was either you stay with them or you bring a career:
“We are still a relation-dependent health facility. However, this is not the case in developed countries. In this clime, we always have the pleasure to say I stayed with her. The reality is our patients depend on relatives throughout their stay and they have nowhere to sleep.
“They manage by sleeping in their cars. It is always in our mind to have things like this, where patients’ relations would stay in comfort and sleep until the following day when they go back and look after their patients.”