By Tolani Usman
If there is anybody who is in a position to know about the health sector in Kwara State, Prof. Wale Suleiman sure is. He is not only an authority in the field, but also a serial participant in the health sector of the state. Suleiman is a professor of neurosurgery and neurosciences. He was a board member of the Harmony Advanced Diagnostic Centre (HADC) under the previous administration. He was also appointed Special Adviser on Health Matters by the current administration, but he later resigned on personal grounds.
The Arabs have a saying, and it is apt in this discourse. They say, an incontrovertible truth is the one testified to by an opponent. By virtue of his affiliation Prof. Suleiman is now an opposition. Nonetheless, he made a stunning revelation, during an award presentation ceremony to His Excellency Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq by some Kwarans in diaspora under the banner of KSANG, of which he is a member.
KSANG had conferred the award on AbdulRazaq based on his track record of excellence and changing the narratives of the state to positive. It was on that occasion Prof. Suleiman who is an opposition senatorial candidate attested to the improvements in the health sector of the state under the current administration, noting that in 2019, the situation was below ground zero. And that was just the gospel truth!
Some members of the opposition PDP, perturbed by this revelation, have been in ‘severe pains’. One of them even called for a debate with the Professor. Well, there is nothing to debate. The Prof. had only said the truth. These are ample evidences supporting his position.
When the AbdulRazaq-led administration came in 2019, the General Hospital, Ilorin had no water. That was how far it had sunk into the abyss. It was on record that the previous administration spent billions of naira on fixing water. Yet, they left many waterworks moribund and were using tankers to distribute water in the state capital. Not only that, the premier hospital lacked basic medical facilities a centre of its standard should have. That’s the hospital in the capital city which naturally should be the leader. So, imagine what other health centres in the state would look like.
What manner of ambulances did the previous administration leave behind? None was functioning properly again. Even, the inept ones left behind were ‘advanced danfo buses’. Now, in Kwara, we have what we can thump our chests to call ambulances. The ambulances procured by the new administration are a moving theater. They possess oxygen, defibrillator, among other medical equipment.
Again, there was no functional Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the whole of the state before the coming of this administration. Governor AbdulRazaq has however delivered a 12-bed ICU that is the largest in Northcentral Nigeria. It is equipped with modern gadgets that include ventilators, patient monitors, defibrillators, syringe pump, suction machines, infusion pumps, and appropriate ICU beds, among other medical tools required to manage patients in critical condition. Before Otoge, ICU equipment were available only at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital in Oke-Oyi, a federal government facility.
This was exactly the same manner the current administration did not inherit a single ventilator in the health sector. A former commissioner in the previous administration made so much noise about how they had procured ventilators, but it was all fluke. He couldn’t substantiate his claim. When asked where were the ventilators, he went off radar. This new administration has procured ventilators, and it boosted the capability of the state in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
This administration has also restored the Oxygen Plant which suffered years of neglect under the previous administration. There is now a new eye centre that has ultramodern facilities, competing fairly with the national eye centre in Kaduna. Kwara residents were not able to treat their failing sights back then due to the lack of necessary facilities. The dental centre has also been equipped with similar modern accessories that were not available in the past. All these represent the ground zero Prof. Suleiman was referring to.
Over 23 healthcare centres spread across the state that were in dilapidated conditions have been fixed, while many more are witnessing turnaround. The administration has sponsored free surgical interventions, including eye surgery for cataract, removal of breast lumps, cervical cancer screening and cryotherapy treatment, repair of inguinal hernias, hydrocele, and lipomas. Tens of thousands of people have been enrolled into the state health insurance scheme which the previous administration only paid lip service to. To prevent cross infections, additional dialog+evolution hemodialysis machines were procured for the General Hospital, Ilorin, to serve special needs of patients with kidney diseases.
All these investments in the health sector were not only acknowledged by Prof. Wale Suleiman. They have received commendations from several bodies. Look at how Kwara managed the COVID-19 virus despite the scaremongering. Our strategies earned us good ratings in the league of sub-nationals. Kwara has clearly left the ground zero it was in 2019 as far as healthcare is concerned. We are moving to greater heights. The evidence of these meaningful investments is the increased patronage our healthcare facilities have gotten over the years. It was almost overwhelming the health officials, but this administration has even engaged many more hands to complement the existing ones. An administration that has done all these deserves to be returned. Kwarans must not settle for less. We must not allow those who drove us to ground zero to smell power again!
Tolani Usman writes from Moro.