THE Chief Medical Director of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, Kwara State, Prof. AbdulWaheed Olatinwo, has lauded the initiative of the Federal Government in procuring VAMED equipment for some teaching hospitals in the country, noting that the governmental intervention had reduced the inclination of many Nigerians travelling abroad for medical care.

Olatinwo, at a news briefing recently in Ilorin marking his two years in office as the head of the UITH, believed that Nigerian medical personnel had come of age, just as he boasted of the VAMED facilities as having the capacity to take the nation's health to its required heights.

For him, "the VAMED facilities have become a success story in our hospital.  Most of the high profile surgeries we carry on here would not have been possible but for the equipment. Our statistics of recent has shown that those who ordinarily would have travelled abroad in the past for treatment due to the dearth of facilities now come to the teaching hospitals for treatment."

However he warned that the success story could turn sour if nothing was done to enhance stability of electricity in the country. He added that the UITH spent N16 million monthly on the procurement of diesel to run its generating sets. The amount of money excluded N2 million it paid monthly on electricity bill to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Olatinwo, while justifying the one point agenda of the hospital under his leadership, "Total quality health care that guarantees satisfaction," said that the hospital would by the middle of this year start its services on kidney transplant, just as he disclosed his advice to the workers of the UITH on the need to treat patients and their relatives as "kings."

He added: "There is tendency for people to ask of what have been done to further relieve patients when they come to the hospital. I wish to state that the management is not unaware of the role patients' relations play in the patient wellbeing. Consequently, the hospital has constructed patient relations' shed for those staying to assist their patients' progress in the hospital. In addition, we made provision of certain amount of money for indigent patients."