The University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) recently joined the list of teaching hospitals in the country that have performed In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF).

  The test-tube propelled IVF was performed on a 33-year-old woman, Ramat Jamiu, who had been infertile for nine years since her marriage to the 70-year-old Suleiman Jamiu, a professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at the Kwara State University, Malete.

  While the man's earlier marriage had produced four children prior to the second marriage, the second wife was suspected to be suffering infertility-related problems.   However, several tests conducted on her at the UITH showed no gynecological deformity that could have made her infertile.

  Efforts at getting comprehensive details of the couple's health situations were rebuffed, as the medical personnel linked with the feat cited medical ethics as constraint. Nevertheless, the Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Reproductive Medicine Specialist and Minimal Access Surgery, UITH, Dr. Lukman Omokanye, said "infertility in marriage should not be the problem for the wife to the exclusion of the husband."

  According to Omokanye, the couple, especially the woman, was managed in the hospital for about one year before she was delivered of a baby boy via caesarian session last Friday after a period of 38 weeks and weighed 3.25kg. He added that the fetus had presented itself in breech, though the expected delivery date was August 16.

  The Guardian learnt that IVF could be effective for those suffering from retrograde ejaculation, especially those who had at a stage in their lives passed through enlarged prostrate surgeries. Suffers have normal erection during sexual intercourse and attain orgasm and ejaculate, but rather than the semen flowing out through the urino-genital path, it returns to the testis.

  The UITH Chief Medical Director, Prof. Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, said that with more dedication and better facilities, the nation could become Africa's medical hub very soon. 

  Olatinwo, who yesterday commissioned the Bio-Medical Engineering Workshop, Obstetrics and Gynecology Laparoscopy Training Room for Endoscopic Surgeries, Central Sterile Supply Department and Phase Two of the 22-room consultants' offices, said that all commissioned projects were the immediate needs of the hospital.

   He added: "The modest contributions of today were made possible by what my predecessors had done in the past and the dynamism of the present Nigerian Government over the health sector."

  Meanwhile, Mrs. Jamiu said her song had changed with the birth of the baby, as she thanked God who made it possible. She also thanked her husband, who was very patient for nine good years. She further thanked the management and staff of UITH for their efforts and input in the whole process.