Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday, formally inaugurated the two-storey Paediatric Sickle Cell Centre sited in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, and built to expand access to care for children living with sickle cell disorder.
The purpose-built medical facility was donated by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) occupied by Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.
The intervention was initiated to address the inadequacies and strengthen the Centre to cope with the volume of sickle cell cases daily attended to in the Centre.
LASUTH attends to the highest number of cases among health facilities in Lagos.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, in his speech at the occasion, described the intervention as a remarkable donation strategic to the state’s healthcare value chain, noting that the project would scale up response time to cases and stem infant mortality.
The governor, who acknowledged Princess Orelope-Adefulire for her vision and unwavering commitment to healthcare advancement that made this Centre a reality, pointed out that the hospital would provide comprehensive care that will include early diagnosis, advanced treatment and continuous management to children who were suffering the debilitating condition.
According to him, the Centre will also serve as a hub for research and education, which will foster a deeper understanding of the disease, adding: “More importantly, it will contribute to reducing the infant mortality index.”
“This collaboration with the Office of the SSA to the President on SDGs is a testament to our collective commitment to improving care for children living with sickle cell diseases. I acknowledge Princess Orelope-Adefulire for her vision and unwavering commitment to healthcare advancement that made this Centre a reality. This will not only transform our healthcare landscape, it will also add to the number of childcare facilities in Lagos.
“If we all work together, we can achieve a lot more together. This hospital will provide comprehensive care that will include early diagnosis, advanced treatment and continuous management to children that are suffering the debilitating condition. The Centre will also serve as a hub for research and education, which will foster a deeper understanding of the disease. More importantly, it will contribute to reducing the infant mortality index,” Governor Sanwo-Olu stated.
Sanwo-Olu said the facility would nurture an environment where children would get holistic care tailored to their individual needs, including medical treatment and psychological support.
He expressed appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for finding Lagos worthy to benefit from the intervention, saying that the project had further reinforced the health vision of the president to enhance the nation’s capacity to meet global health coverage.
Orelope-Adefulire, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos, in her own remark, said sickle cell disease had impacted communities across the nation negatively, subjecting families to psychological torture, noting that this had informed the priority accorded to the development of modern medical care capability to address the growing cases.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) described the New Sickle Cell Care Centre being inaugurated as a one stop centre for all components of the comprehensive care for sickle cell disease in children and adolescents living with disorder, “except for surgeries which are of course available within the LASUTH premises.”
She said the Centre provides a well-equipped facility and a conducive environment to empower patients and health workers in LASUTH and Lagos State to deliver global standard of comprehensive care for sickle cell disease to the residents.
According to her, the Centre specifically offers: Adequate space to accommodate many more patients, a daycare ward for short-stay admissions, blood transfusion services, Emergency x-ray Services
laboratory services, pharmacy services, counselling services, training and transfer of essential skills to patients, their parents and health care workers, and operational research activities.
