It used to be the hospital of choice for expectant women in Ado-Ekiti and environs for several decades, until 1979 because of its first-class services. Ile-Abiye in the Ekiti State capital is now a shadow of its glorious past, SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN reports
It goes popularly by the name Ile-Abiye, meaning house of safe delivery. Some, for lack of knowledge of the appropriate tonal sound of the Yoruba tag, do call it Ile-Abiye, meaning The Land of Safe Delivery.
The hospital, established in the early 1930s and located close to the main road as one moves towards Ilawe-Ekiti at the Onigari GRA area of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, used to attract patronage from across towns and communities in the then old Ondo State.
According to the Hospital Secretary, Rev. Canon Joseph Ogunmilade, it used to be regarded as a first rate missionary hospital established by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) which later became the Anglican Church. But things went low somehow when in 1979, the then Ondo State government took it over alongside other missionary establishments.
A cross section of elderly residents revealed that the hospital was a notable port of call for many needy individuals, especially expectant mothers, scores of whom safely put to bed there and many of whom now in their 90s and hundreds do recall with fond memories the quality of care they received in their child birth periods.
One of such mothers of the time is today the 90-year-old, Alhaja Raliatu Ogunrinde, who, in an encounter with The Nation, reminisced glowingly about an establishment reputed to have ranked among the best in healthcare services in the country at the time.
Alhaja Raliatu said: “We used to receive so much care that time that you would want to have another baby in a short period. There were many Oyinbo (Expatriate) doctors and nurses at the time and they would be everywhere to support us whenever we came to deliver.
“Then, there was one Dr. Gem, who did not want to see any woman in labour for too long and there were so many nurses then. All of them would be going back and forth, carrying this and that to ensure things went well. The place was always filled with people. I had the first baby, then the second and then the third. I think I had my first five children at the hospital,” Alhaja Raliatu said.
Also, 80-year-old, Mrs. Abigael Ibitoye reminisced about the hospital. She said was indescribable in the quality and promptness of services. According to her, although, there were always so many patients, each rushing for attention, everyone was being given the needed attention.
Mrs. Ibitoye said: “I remember I had my first two babies. The place used to be fine. So many babies were born in that place at that time. Some women who came to deliver at the hospital had been told elsewhere they would have to be operated upon. It was a great hospital.”
Among the babies delivered in those bygone days are today notable bankers, scholars, medical doctors, teachers, successful business men and women, industrialists and politicians who have made their marks and registered their presence both in the country and outside.
These include Chief Dele Falegan, a retired banker in his early 80s, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, currently representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, former Senator Bode Ola and Prof. Femi Elegbeleye.
A few others are Chief Bola Alegbeleye, also a retired banker, Dr. Funso Anisulowo, an Ibadan-based private medical practitioner, Hon. Taye Fasuba, former Chairman, Ado-Ekiti Local Government and Mrs. Amudat Adeleke, a teacher.
Mrs. Adeleke, born about fifty years ago, recalled that she used to love following her mother to the hospital as a child then.
She said: “I always loved following mama there anytime because the place was always filled with people. I was born there but I was not always sick. However, each time our mother was taking my brother there I always followed them. The nurses and doctors used to move very fast all the time. They were always serious,” she said.
The situation lately
But, today the fortunes of once boisterous Ile-Abiye has ebbed. While it still is a hospital, the patronage has dwindled seriously. There are a few individuals, mostly expectant mothers who are still patronising the hospital. Tales about the establishment are now often preceded with adjectives reflective of lost glories. First time visitors to the hospital may be left struggling to match the name and the environment which looked more like a deserted habitation than a hospital.
Movements of human beings which are noticed at the place now and again are associated more with other activities within the environment than the hospital. The place now boasts of just one official vehicle, a Volvo Station Wagon 740, which serves essentially as the ambulance.
Most of the buildings though painted looked more like relics of ages gone by; the doors looking as old as the hospital while most of the windows carry only the burglar proofs without the louvre blades.
How did it happen?
In his explanation, Canon Ogun-milade said the hospital suffered a setback when it was taken over by the Michael Adekunle Ajasin administration of the old Ondo State in 1979.
Ogunmilade maintained that the authorities then also took over a number of missionary hospitals including Maria Assumpta and even some schools, adding “by the time Ile-Abiye was restored back to its founder, The Anglican Communion, in 1985, it had lost its glory as virtually all the facilities and the infrastructure had gone into disarray and the buildings had become dilapidated.
“By then, the once vibrant hospital had fallen apart, it had become a ramshackle death center. The same situation also applies to Maria Assumpta which has also till date remained a ghost of its former self,” Ogunmilade said.
He stated that other programmes which were of great benefits to the people and which were also being run by the hospital at the time, including a health outreach programme and school of nursing were not just discontinued by the then Ondo State government but had been totally phased out by the time it was restored.
In his own opinion, the hospital Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Pius Ovie, attributed the dwindling fortunes to other factors including the developments which followed the creation of Ekiti as a distinct state in 1996.”
According to him, quality hospitals which are accessible and affordable for the people started to develop all over the state and government has since been ensuring improvements in the health sector, adding “what they had at the time were few compared with the number we have today in terms of quality hospitals,” he said.
Ovie lamented that some of the few people who come for treatment are also not always ready or happy to pay for the services, however cheap such may be, noting “some people are so funny as to imagine this as a missionary establishment and that all services are rendered free.
Emphasising the unpopularity of the hospital, Dr. Ovie said: “You often hear them saying “I am going to Ile-Abiye” or “Wait for me at Ile-Abiye”, but they refer to the place as an area not as a hospital. Some of them don’t even know today that Ile-Abiye means a hospital,” Ovie said.
According to him, while Ile-Abiye used to deliver a minimum of thirty babies even in one day, the entire number of deliveries in the hospital even in a year lately is just about that figure.
Ovie added that poverty among the people has remained a factor in the entire consideration, noting: “many of those who come here today say our charges are too much when our charges are not as high as half the charges of some other private hospitals around.
“At times, from the looks you know those who can pay and those who cannot. Some would come with a big jeep and would claim not to have as little as N7,000. Though we charge, but our charges have always been moderate and modest,” Dr. Ovie said.
Efforts at reversals
Findings, however, revealed that efforts are on to reverse the situation for the better.
While the CMD himself admitted that funding remains a major challenge to bring the hospital up to required standards, genuine commitments are being pledged by notable individuals some of whom have donated considerable amounts to undertake change.
One of such, Chief Falegan, told The Nation that he has personally renovated the Children Ward, while a committee set up for the purpose by those who were born at the place had equally pooled resources to ensure upgrading.
Other individuals including Senator Ojudu, Former Senator Bode Ola, and Dr. Anisulowo are all part of a committee spearheading the pooling of efforts to ensure that, according to Chief Falegan, the change that will be instituted will be genuine, total and lasting.
Chief Falegan said, “Ile-Abiye is today a sad story. It started as a missionary hospital in 1930, but unfortunately it was taken over by a civilian administration. We have started making efforts to bring the place back on its feet.
“Senator Ojudu, former rector, Prof Ajaja and some of those who had trained (born) there when things were going on well have promised to support the renovation. We have set up a Trust Fund and got N2,000,000 out of which we released N800,000 recently. Personally, I have done the children and the outpatients’ department,” he said.
Corroborating Falegan, Ojudu, told The Nation that he had been supportive of the latest moves about changing the condition of the hospital.
He said: “I was born in that hospital in 1961 and all my siblings as well. The place used to be very beautiful, well cultivated grasses, cultivated lawns and nNurseries for flowers.
“When I was contacted for the project, I gave my widow’s might and I shall continue to be part of the processes to ensuring needed change at the hospital.
The CMD has also added that efforts are in place to harness supports of the state government which he noted remained crucial and critical, adding that since the creation of the state, no government had supported the hospital.
Source: The Nation
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