Remi Babalola Red Cross Hospital as succour centre for low income Nigerians

Even though it has enormous potentialities in human resource and other spheres to take the lead at least in Africa, Nigeria’s health indicators do not rank among the best in the continent, let alone on the global state. Skilled medical workers who ought to help salvage the situation have been brain-drained to countries on whose priorities the health of their citizens comes first.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its 2015 report on Nigeria put life expectancy at 53 for male and 56 for female. 357 male and 325 females out of every 1, 000 Nigerians have a very high probability of dying between ages 15 and 60. The total government expenditure on health per capital is $217 (N70, 525). While WHO stipulates 1:600 as the standard doctor-citizens ratio, Nigeria boasts only of 35, 000 doctors who are working in the country, a figure that shows that a doctor services approximately 5, 143 Nigerians.

Consequently, provision of healthcare services has been a major challenge in the country, while the citizens, particularly the poor, continue to sing songs of lamentation.

But Dr Remi Babalola, who was Minister of State for Finance between July 2007 and August 2010, believes that rather than lamenting, public-spirited Nigerians ought to come on board to provide meaningful interventions in the area of healthcare services to complement what government is doing in the health sector. This disposition informed the birth of a well-equipped private medical facility named Remi Babalola Red Cross Medical Centre located in Gbagi, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Babalola, as a member of the Federal Executive Council then, was appointed a volunteer of the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRSC) in 2008 by a delegation of the society led by its former president and incumbent governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha. The purpose of the appointment was for Babalola to deploy his social influence to mobilise support for the establishment of a first-class medical facility devoted to providing for the healthcare needs of less endowed Nigerians.

Before his ministerial appointment, Babalola had been reaching out to the needy through his non-governmental organisation named Remi Babalola Initiative (RBI) in the areas of education, health and poverty reduction.

Moved by the need to save lives, the former Minister, in 2009, used the RBI platform to mobilise funds for the establishment of the medical facility in partnership with Red Cross and other well- meaning Nigerians. On November 17, 2012, the facility was inaugurated by a former Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu.

The construction of the hospital was handled by First Bank of Nigeria as a corporate social responsibility through the influence of Babalola.  It sits on a relatively expansive land provided by the Oyo State government during the immediate past administration. The facility boasts of a modern theatre ward, medical laboratory and multiple patient wards.

The centre was purposely sited along Ibadan-Ife Highway and a few metres to the well-known Gbagi market as well as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) motor park. The choice of the location is in tandem with the initial conception that the facility would serve as a clinic where accident causalities can get first aid medical intervention and also give low- income earners access quality medicare.

Four years after the widely praised facility was put in place, Sunday Tribune visited the centre to know what has kept it going. Dr Abraham Anejukwo, an orthopedic surgeon from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, is the consultant in charge of the centre. He told Sunday Tribune how it has been since clinical activities began in December 2012.

“The centre provides quality and affordable healthcare services to the people. Patients that don’t want to go to UCH go to Remi Babalola Medical Centre because they get the standard of UCH at the centre and without the bureaucracy and the delays [in government hospitals]. The patients don’t pay for their case notes, registration or consultation, which is a lot of relief for the people in the community when you consider their status as artisans with very low income. The drugs at the centre are sold at cheaper prices than market prices and for laboratory services, it is half the price at the centre.

“When we started, we thought we would only cater for low income people. But we get to see patients from all social classes, upper and middle class people, of course predominantly more of people from low income group from Adegbayi, Gbagi, Egbeda, Old Ife Road and many more. The funny thing is that apart from these areas which are close to the centre, we have patients coming from as far as Apata and Bodija. I asked them how they knew about the centre and they said people mentioned it to them and they were told it is UCH standard and that everything is done fast. We see bankers and others coming too,” he said.

The initiator of the centre told Sunday Tribune how the four-year journey has been. “It has been a very good journey. It made me realise that the best and the most beautiful things in the world are things that touch the heart. When we started it, we were not sure how much impact it was going to have. If you go to UCH website today, you will see that is the only PPP they have on their website and it has been described by the UCH as a landmark in terms of partnership.

“So, I am very impressed about the role the centre has played in reducing the dilapidation in healthcare provision, especially in that area of Ibadan. The interesting thing is not just the number of patients it has attended to but the way that it has been expanded in terms of medical facilities far beyond a clinic for emergency intervention, but which later went beyond that.

What is the role of the Red Cross in the tripartite partnership, Tribune asked Babalola. “To be honest with you, that is the reason why we are going to hand over to Red Cross by the end of the year. When I got involved, I raised the money and I thought Red Cross had the platform and the structure to handle it. But after I had raised the money, I realised that Red Cross didn’t have structure to handle it. They said they were going to look for volunteer doctors and personnel to do it. But we realised that was not going to work. So, instead of allowing it to fail, we changed the modality and made it a tripartite arrangement by involving the UCH.

Mrs Funmi Alebiosu, a nursing mother who uses the hospital, said the initiative was the best thing that happened in the community in the last four years. The woman, who spoke in Yoruba language, said many people would have died from avoidable deaths under the blade of quacks that have flooded the heath sector because of the acute shortage of skilled personnel.

“There is the case of a woman who had suffered misdiagnosis at the hands of a local doctor. It was when the woman was brought to Remi Babalola Hospital that it was revealed that she would have died if her relatives had not brought her to the hospital. We are grateful to Dr Babalola for this lofty initiative and urge other rich Nigerians to emulate his example,” she said.

Alhaji Wasiu Shittu is an official of the NURTW Abuja Unit, Gbagi. He spoke with the Nigerian Tribune about how beneficial the hospital has been to members of the union and the public at large. “A lot of people in the community have benefitted tremendously from the hospital. People from Gbagi, Alakia, Adegbayi, and Isebo come to the hospital. I have their card which I got free of charge and I know many of our members who also have the cards.

“We receive treatment from the hospital every month for free. To see the doctor is free, no consultation fee is charged. The only thing we pay for is drugs and we get them for half the price. If the ailment is malaria, we get free malaria drugs at no cost. And the speed with which the personnel attend to patients is very commendable. What Remi Babalola has done for the community is unquantifiable. May Allah continue to bless him.