Kwara scales up dental, eye care centres with modern equipment

…Our eye centre facilities now top notch in Nigeria — HoD Ophthalmology

Kwara State Hospital Management Bureau has said the ongoing  refurbishment and quality of equipment now available at the dental clinic and eye care centres at the General Hospital Ilorin have made the facilities the best in the entire northern region after the National Eye Centre in Kaduna.

Director General of the Bureau, Sa’ad Oladimeji Aluko, stated this in Ilorin at the weekend while conducting journalists and some of their staff round the facilities.

He said apart from putting in place a beautiful edifice, the government has also equipped the dental clinic and the eye centre with ultra-modern machines that are of highest quality.

“This is the dental clinic for Kwara state General Hospital Ilorin, which is now the biggest dental centre in Kwara State after a comprehensive refurbishment,” he said.

“This refurbished dental clinic is meant to deliver quality healthcare to Kwarans. What is also critical, apart from erecting a befitting building at this centre, are the equipment that have been put in place. So, we now have ultra-modern equipment that are of the highest quality in the country. The standard that can compete with any private or public dental institution in the Country.

“The eye centre is another big project that His Excellency embarked upon. Before now, the biggest eye centre that we have was at Sobi Specialist hospital. Government had to relocate it to GHI because of the COVID-19 treatment and other technical issues. We now have a mega eye centre in GHI (General Hospital Ilorin) here with many modern equipment that have been procured. This is not the question of whether we have done this. It is on the ground and anyone can see them.

“We have also taken the delivery of additional dialysis machines that were procured recently. They are two brand new 2022 models. You know, it is the top of the range, and that has increased the number of patients coming in.”

He said the Bureau is working round the clock to run a 24-hour service at the dialysis centre to accommodate more patients, a plan he said will be aided by the newly procured dialysis machines.

He commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for taking every good step to advance the delivery of quality healthcare service in the state.

“For a lot of private institutions that are doing dialysis people get infected. Oftentimes we manage infected patients because they are infected from some of the dialysis machines outside. His Excellency now saw the need for us to procure additional dialysis machines, which were supplied late last year. All this will put us (kwara) in a position that we can give quality healthcare services to our people.”

Corroborating the DG’s remarks, the HoD Ophthalmology at the Ilorin General Hospital (GHI) Dr. Taoheed Abdullahi said the eye centre is now developed to the level that can compete in standard with any other public and private eye care centres in the region.

“Before, we were using just two rooms for the eye department where we had about three or four doctors sharing one room to attend to multiple patients, while the other room was dedicated to nurses to do lots of activities,” he said.

“But over time, the present government has shown lots of interest in ophthalmology in Kwara State by providing a befitting edifice which is fortified with many modern equipment. That gave birth to what we are having here today. I will say the facility is second to none in Kwara, and can be ranked second only to the National Eye Centre, Kaduna.

“Until now, we have never had a Visual field machine and Laser machine, among many others, and these are the machines that usually draw patients to the National Eye Care Centre.”

Dr. Abdullahi expressed confidence that the centre can now boast of an increase in the size of referrals it gets on the basis of the quality personnel and equipment that are on ground.

He said there are ongoing plans to make the well-equipped facility a training centre in partnership with the relevant West African professional body.

“By the time the membership training for doctors starts it will attract more personnel from within and outside Nigeria, and propel the image of the state government. This means that kwara will soon become an epicentre in Nigeria where people will keep coming for (ophthalmologic) eye service,” he said.

“In terms of patronage since we moved into this facility we have had not less than 60 percent rise in patient patronage coming for our services. I believe by the time more people hear about this good development the patronage will increase.”