Video: Akala’s N26billion investment on LAUTECH Teaching Hospital going down the drain

LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, (LTH) Ogbomoso, was inaugurated by the former Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Christopher Alao-Akala in 2011, with the mandate to deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare services to the host community and the country at large. 

 LTH took off with state-of-the-art facilities to be able to offer training, research and services that can be obtained in the best of hospitals world over while it was envisioned as a first choice healthcare centre in Oyo state.

It was gathered that the hospital was rebuilt and equipped with the world class clinical equipment after former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Akala resolved that LAUTECH Teaching Hospital Osogbo should be ceded to Osun State University as Uniosun Teaching Hospital while Oyo State will solely own LTH, Ogbomoso. Sources however say the plan was thwarted by the incumbent owner governors.

Equipment available in the hospital are: Sound Proof Room with Audio metre to detect hearing defects; Mortuary that can contain 196 bodies at a go; Computerized Tomography scan with 64-slice and a CT angiography procedure  which is super fast, cost less and it ruled out the need for cauterization.

The hospital also has a gas plant capable of supplying oxygen in commercial quantities to other hospitals in the country. The gas plant is designed that each ward is piped to avoid the cumbersomeness of carrying cylinder around. Also, there is water dam with 3000 litres reservoir.

There are 10 dialysis machines available to renal, HIV, Hepatitis and other patients. There is also the laundry department which is equipped with five industrial washing machines, dryers, ironing machines and other state-of-the-art laundry equipment.

In term of staff strength and composition, indigenes of the states with other foreign experts were employed. The record officers were trained to make LTH, a paperless hospital.

LTH Ogbomoso in less than five years has put Oyo State on the world map with respect to ground breaking research works, internationally renowned medical and surgical procedures as well as citizen-centered service delivery. Some of the landmarks have been the recent commencement of Laparoscopic Surgery in the hospital with success record.

The hospital strives to maintain world acclaimed teaching and service delivery despite the inadequacies of lack of delivery as well as installation of delivered equipment.

Sadly however, the present day reality is that the hospital equipments are no longer working optimally due to neglect.

As a matter of fact, some suppliers are yet to supply other equipment because the former governor was not there to monitor delivery after he lost the bid for a second term.

The matter is said to be presently before Governor Abiola Ajimobi and members of Oyo State House of Assembly. Some of the equipment supplied like elevator and some clinical equipment have not been installed and due to the state of the neglect, only 60 per cent of the installed equipment are functioning.

Since January, 2016, the staffs of the hospital have been on half salaries after the incumbent governor mandated the hospital to generate revenue internally to run the hospital.

During a protest by Association of Resident Doctors of the hospital, the doctors warned that the hospital was at risk of imminent collapse if the state government refused to find solution to the salary crisis.

According to them, the teaching hospital has lost almost half of specialist, resident doctors and house officers in each of the specialties and as well suffered “perennial issues of epileptic payment of salary, incomplete structures and lack of or failure to deliver the planned equipment”.

The people of Oyo State would love to see a lasting solution to the crisis rocking LAUTECH Teaching Hospital. Governor Ajimobi has allegedly not visited the hospital since six years of his leadership.

There is no doubt that Governor Ajimobi-led administration is making ground breaking achievements in all sectors especially in health sector of the state but consideration of this hospital will go a long way to solve myriads of health challenges in the state especially now that the former and the incumbent governors are political allies.