- Stephen Godonu-
The Badagry General Hospital now wears a new look which the acting medical director, Dr. Olatunde Bakare attributed to staff dedication to duty and the responsiveness of the State government under a dynamic and proactive governor, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Even though the hospital run on a 500KVA power plant, there are also back – ups like solar power and smaller generating sets for essential units like surgical theaters, laboratories, emergency wards, clinics, mortuary etc.
However, the 100 – bed capacity newly completed Maternal and Child Clinic (MCC) is now ready for commissioning and is equipped with state – of – the – art facilities with four modern surgical theaters that is of world class according to Dr. Bakare. He told our correspondent who was on tour of the facility that an additional thirty doctors are expected to boost the value chain system here and already seventeen young doctors have resumed and presently going through mentoring.
A visibly elated Dr. Bakare who has spent eleven years at the Badagry general hospital said, “the MCC will change the dynamics of heath care delivery not just in Badagry but in the entire Badagry axis”.
According to the new helmsman, he said it may interest the world to know that this facility caters for patients from Benin Republic in specialised treatments and even ante natal. And apart from mainland and island Badagry including Ajara, Owode Apa Seme axis, those closer to us like Morogbo, Ijanikin, Okoko, Ajangbadi, Ojo and Amuwo are also regulars here, we also receive patients from Ipokia, Idiroko, Ado – Odo, Atan – Ota and Agbara in Ogun State who visits here in their numbers in search of quality health services which we are known for and according to investigation by our correspondent, many people also visits the Badagry general hospital largely due to the serene environment and the responsiveness of the services available here.
According to Dr. Bakare, he said statistics at the faculty has shown that, the hospital attends to two million patients every year with almost zero death case. The new boss, equally attributed the success story of Badagry general hospital to the progressivism of the Lagos State government to offer the best medical services for its twenty million plus population coupled with the motivation and other fringe benefits been enjoyed by the State health workers.
The new helmsman told our correspondent that Lagosisns should key into the Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme (LSHIS) with a paltry premium of N8000 per year which will cater for any known treatment available to us without extra cost. He said the scheme is fully operational and already available to the State civil servants but also meant to capture all categories of persons in Lagos State. He reiterated that the scheme desk is available in all public health facility in the State including the Badagry general hospital and urges Lagosians to embrace the scheme.
The difficulty associated with the non availability of essential drugs which patients suffers according to an independent investigation by our correspondent at the facility is also easing when this report was being compiled. Again, the new boss assures that through a sustainable drug evolving policy, Badagry GH could now afford to procure whatever it needed from the source without any infringement.
The hospital has just taken delivery of a brand new state – of – the – art Ambulance in addition to the old ones in their fleet in order to deal with emergency and referral cases.
Dr. Bakare praised his predessesor, Dr. George Opeyemi Aihonsu for the culture of discipline and dedication he inherited from him and promised to work harder to surpass common grounds.
