Date: 2014-11-10

UITH begins Assisted Productive Technology for childless couples, kidney transplant others AT 29, Mrs. Silifat Usman of No. 43, Pakata area Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, had lost the hope of nursing her own baby in life. But on Wednesday, September 3, 2014, at the age of 31, she became a proud mother of a baby girl through a process known as Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART). Usman, a school teacher, described her ordeal as miraculous while her 36-year-old civil servant husband attributed "the baby gift" to an act of destiny and a soothing balm to their over two years agony of childlessness as a couple. On her hospital bed at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), the woman sporadically glancing at the "miracle baby" could not hold back her tears of joy, moments after a Caesarian Session (CS) carried out by a medical team of the UITH. According to her, she became worried with her inability to conceive after two years of marriage. "We started visiting hospitals in town where series of tests and scans were conducted on me and my husband, but to no avail," she said. Usman traced her reproductive medical history to her very first pregnancy with her husband, which was terminated after six weeks due to what her doctors described as "ectopic pregnancy." This is a condition in which the foetus develops in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. "Before getting to the UITH on June 27, 2013", she said, "the doctors I met suspected deficiency of feminine hormone and they started loading my system with drugs that would provoke needed ovulation experience." She said at the UITH, after undergoing series of medical tests, the doctors diagnosed a condition known in gynaecology as Salpingectomy, interpreted to mean the loss of her right tube, "probably cut off to save my life during my ectopic operation experience." The happy mother added: "The doctors at the same hospital (UITH) equally said that my second tube had been blocked for the reasons they could not explain." A doctor at the UITH, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, citing the ethics of his profession, told The Guardian that the condition of the patient was known as hysterosalpingography. The husband, who displayed stunning knowledge of some gynaecological terminology, disclosed how the doctors at the IVF centre of the hospital had conducted semen fluid test on him with the result being described as normal. "On my wife, they said that her hormonal profile was equally good." At the diagnosis of secondary infertility on his wife, "due to the tubal blockade", Mr. Usman said the doctors recommended for them (husband and wife) "the only option left," which was IVF and Embryo Transfer. He noted: "We left the hospital only to resurface after four months. They gave us date for next appointment, especially after prescribing some fertility medications for my wife. When she observed her menstrual period, the doctors on December 13 2013 did a pre-cervical assessment on her with normal findings as results." He added that the doctors believed the fertility drugs recommended again for her would produce eggs in her ovary and as such, the eggs so produced must be monitored for maturation under Trans Vaginal Ultra Sound Guidance. On December 28 of the same year, eggs collection was done while the semen was equally collected and prepared. Insemination was done, just as fertilisation checks was conducted for a period of three days. He continued: "We were encouraged to continue when the doctors said they recorded three 'Grade One Embryos and embryo transfer was carried out'." After some two weeks of the embryo transfer, he said the Ultra Sound results showed that the foetus had grown to one week and one day. "My wife was advised to commence ante-natal care at the 16th week of the pregnancy, while the gestation period was without complication." "We didn't understand these things disclosed to us. They were like magical acts but we made up our minds to follow till the end. But today, with what God has done for us, we believe these people." A Consultant Reproductive Medicine Clinician of the UITH, Dr. Omotayo Omokanye told The Guardian: "She was delivered of a life baby girl today, September 3, 2014 around 10:40 a.m. We can't supply further information on the patient because our ethics forbid it." Speaking on the development, the Chief Medical Director of the UITH, Professor Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, extolled the virtues of the medical and non-medical staffe of the hospital for their dedication to duty. In a related development, Olatinwo, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, expressed his happiness with the recent breakthrough at the Renal Unit of the hospital for its record success in the area of kidney transplant, adding that the hospital would continually ensure that it becomes a one-stop health institution for the maximum comfort of all its patients. He disclosed that 14 patients of the UITH had been lined up for open heart surgeries, a new innovation of the hospital -before the end of the year. The UITH boss added: "We would have commenced open heart surgeries before now but for certain logistics. But before the end of this year, we will start it." Olatinwo, who described health management system as expensive, urged private and corporate bodies in the country to complement the efforts of the government in providing adequate and virile healthcare for Nigerians.