LAGOS AND THE REVITALISATION OF AYINKE HOUSE
There are edifices that hold profound admiration of people either by virtue of their iconic status or their value to human aspirations. These edifices exist with stories on how they transcend to become an accomplice of peoples fortune. In Lagos, one of those memorial structures that have garnered people’s affection over the years is Ayinke House. Ayinke House is a multispecialty medical centre managed by the state government to provide comprehensive maternal services and professional training for medical students and resident doctors in the state.
This maternal and child centre donated by the late Sir Mobolaji Bank Anthony and named after his mother at the premises of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, is a fortress for pre-and post-natal services and women’s reproductive health care as well as the bedrock of obstetric practices nationwide. The centre was a regular birthplace for many residents that hardly could one finds a Lagos home without a child being delivered in the house. It became so symbolic that many Lagosians unknowingly refer to the whole LASUTH complex as Ayinke House.
Following critical inquisition and strategic engagement to resuscitating the enduring project, the present administration began its reconstruction in 2016, while pledging to make it a landmark project with sufficient apparatus that would dispense first class services to citizens. The sight of the reconvened contractor enthralled the citizens as they were eager to enjoy qualitative healthcare which the centre is incipiently known for.
An insightful diagnoses of the project will leave no one in doubt that Lagos State government put a lot of commitment and resources
to ensuring the facility lacks nothing for optimal service delivery and to be ranked alongside maternal and teaching hospitals in other parts of the world. The centre which originally has 80-bed capacity has now been expanded to 170 with medical facilities to behold. The entrails of this new super ultra-modern hospital is adorned with standard equipment that includes 30 incubators - all with oxygen delivery system capability, neonatal life support, five operating theatres and oxygen plants as well as a special space for challenged newborn requiring intensive care. This facility for intensive care can effectively deliver and support pre-organ treatment with a capacity of 16 beds and very high-dependency unit that incorporates a theatre to attend to emergencies.
By completely digitalizing its operation with the state-of-the-art medical equipment and high-level information technology services, this foremost tertiary medical institution represents a major prospect in the country`s quest to be self-reliant in maternal and child health. While it presents a veritable avenue to connect global partners in the pursuit of synergetic management of women and child lifecycle, it is also an opportunity to mobilize domestic resources in solving emerging health infractions.
In order to allay the probable fear of workforce deficiency, the government has approved the intake of qualified medical personnel across board even before the completion of the facility as doctors, nurses, midwives, surgeons and other specialized staff have been incorporated into the operations.
Furthermore, the house which for years has been the nucleus of the teaching hospital in the training of medical students both at the undergraduate level and at the residency level for doctors can now optimally provide a highly specialized system of training, particularly in the field of obstetrics, gynecology and other allied fields like family medicine. Thus, the capacity of LASUTH Postgraduate Medical College’s as a high ranking medical institution in the world has been elevated. On the strength of its technical and human capability, the teaching institution is now an arable terrain for medical practitioners to embark on conventional biomedical and clinical research towards expanding the knowledge of reproductive health and sharing the discoveries worldwide to improve medical outcome.
Its candor towards emitting comparative policies and programmes put the state government at the frontier of good governance in the country. With an established effective health policies fashioned to advance equitable access to medical system and technologies, the city can now engage the future with hope and confidence. Since the health institution serves as the mechanical and social thread that binds the society to the realm of development and being an inevitable contingent of the smart city desire, the government remains perpetually faithful to meet the physical and emotional demands of its populace.
More importantly, effective use of resources to improve multiple health services is pivotal to meeting the sustainable development goals. Thus, as the federal and other states government revel in the admiration of this impactful project, they are encouraged to exemplify this brand of salutary investment to achieve the universal health coverage for women and children. Kehinde Akinfenwa, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja