Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has called on individuals, private organisations, religious institutions and non-governmental organisations to support the government in healthcare development for a better humanity.
He made the appeal, yesterday, during the commissioning of Lion Isaac Olusola Dada Dialysis Centre and Renal Institute at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, sponsored by Lions Club International, Victoria Island.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Alhaji Mahmuda Mamman, the minister reiterated that government could not develop the health sector without support from well-meaning Nigerians.
Ehanire commended the club for donating the structure to LUTH in this COVID-19 era, urging others to emulate the gesture.
The District Governor, Lions Club International, District 404 A-1, Fortune Wagbatsoma, said her organisation appreciated the fact that public health institutions needed support to cope with the high volume of patients.
She urged that maintenance and supporting services like a stable power supply should be prioritised to keep the facility running for public use.
The Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Prof. Chris Bode, recalled that when the late Chief Lion Isaac Olusola visited his office in March 2017, he had another project in mind, “but I informed him that the dialysis centre in the hospital was in a dilapidated state having been used for over 40 years.”
The visitor, the CMD added, agreed to build the dialysis centre being commissioned.
Bode observed that the collaboration was not only the biggest philanthropic donation to the institution, but also as the largest dialysis centre and nephrology institution in West Africa.
He thanked Olusola family and LUTH management board for their purposeful leadership.
On her part, the wife of the late Lion Isaac Olusola Dada, Mrs. Omolola Dada, said her husband was convinced that he and Lion Club International could contribute towards the reduction of needless deaths occasioned by the paucity of functional facilities accessible to the common man.
She hinted that the centre was to be a 33-bed dialysis centre, adding that with a workable partnership with LUTH and the College of the Medicine University of Lagos, it is now a sprawling institute.
Dada stated: “If he (Olusola) can see us now, I am certain he will be full of smiles.”
The Guardian
