Baptist Hospital is located in Odo-Aiyedun, of Ikole-Ekiti Local Government Area (LGA), Ekiti State, Nigeria. Odo-Aiyedun is one of the villages of Aiyedun town of Ekiti State. It has a population of about 80,000. The modern Ekiti state was formed from part of Ondo in 1996. Aiyedun is one of 32 towns in Ekiti state.
The Ekiti, whose ancestors migrated from Ile-Ife as a people, form one of the largest ethnic groups in Yorubaland. Ekitis are culturally homogeneous and they speak a dialect of Yoruba language known as Ekiti. Ekiti people are renowned for their resourcefulness
Life Support Eye Clinic, a subsidiary of Entelechy Nigeria Limited, is partnering with the community to set up an Eye clinic in the Baptist Hospital which is grossly underutilised. It is a building without equipment and competent staff. All this can change if we work together to bring it to life to serve the community.
The Hospital has an outpatient waiting room with a capacity for 250 patients. This will be used as the registration Hall, Visual Acuity evaluation and fellowship hall during the four days outreach in September 2010.
There is a doctor�s examination room currently being used by a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) doctor. This will be used for screening surgical cases by the eye doctors during the outreach week.
There is an operating theatre which is currently being used as residential accommodation for an in-house emergency nurse. This will be re-converted to its proper use and remodelled by installing an air conditioner, creating a scrub area, changing room and toilet for theatre staff. It will also be disinfected and left fallow for a minimum of two months before September next year. Life Support Eye Clinic will initially supply all the surgical hard and consumable items until the Hospital can acquire its own.
Two rooms (10ft/10ft) in the Hospital Annex were identified and earmarked to be converted and remodelled to serve as the Eye clinic which will start functioning by June 2010.
Challenges
There are a few challenges that need to be addressed with the Baptist Hospital. These challenges include:
1. There is currently no water in the facility because the pumping machine is broken.
2. Toilet and bathroom facilities are currently out of commission
3. Electricity is epileptic and standby generator is out of commission, due to old age
4. Window nets are rusted out and need to be replaced.
5. Window louvres need to be replaced
6. Lack of adequate kitchen facilities
7. Floors need to be retiled
8. Walls need to be repainted
9. There is a need for up-to-date medical equipment
Past projects with Baptist Hospital, Odo-Aiyedun
One hundred and fifty thousand naira and several equipment were donated by Life Support Eye Clinic toward the establishment of an Eye Clinic in Odo Aiyedun. The money was used to procure all the basic instruments necessary to jump start the Eye clinic. Baptist Hospital donated the building and sponsored the partitioning of the room and installation of fans.
The first Eye clinic activity took place on the 2nd of October 2010. The Clinic infrastructure was dedicated to God by the Bishop of the Methodist Cathedral of His Glory Odo-Aiyedun. In attendance were representatives of the Baptist hospital committee, the Life Support Eye Clinic staff from Lagos and eminent persons of Odo- Aiyedun. There was great excitement about the commencement of an Eye Clinic in the community. Prayers offered by various persons confirmed the excitement.
22 patients were seen despite the fact that there was no public announcement preceding the clinic commencement. This was deliberate as the Grand opening is yet to take place. Most of the patients needed glasses and three need urgent surgeries namely cataract and glaucoma surgeries.
Pictures of current state of the hospital:-
- ENTRANCE INTO THE HOSPITAL
- UNPAINTED SECTION IS THE EYE CLINIC
- RENOVATED INTERIOR OF THE EYE CLINIC WITH FRAME SHOWCASE
- PATIENTS WAITING TO SEE THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST
- FRONT VIEW OF THE BAPTIST HOSPITAL IN NEED OF CARE
- NEWLY TILED INTERIOR OF THE BAPTIST HOSPITAL
- TECHNICIAN WORKING OF THE FAULTY GENERATOR IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT
Future Projects with Baptist Hospital, Odo-Aiyedun
There is an urgent need to train two nurses in primary eye care who will screen the patients and refer blinding eye diseases to the visiting Ophthalmologists who will treat the patients with drugs or operate on the eyes. The training of the nurses will take place at Life Support Eye clinic in Lagos and St Mary’s Catholic hospital in Ago-Iwoye over a 6 month period. The six month period can be split into two 3 month periods.
The proposed name for the Aiyedun Eye clinic is (GLORY VISION CENTER, BAPTIST HOSPITAL, AIYEDUN). This name is subject to approval by the Baptist Mission.
The interior and exterior walls of the Eye clinic need painting and the floor tiled with ceramic tiles. Work estimates are needed to assist fund raising.
There is also urgent need to make the operating theatre functional by urgent painting and ceramic tiling of the floor. The changing room and toilet adjoining the operating room need remodeling. The scrub area should be demarcated and a sink installed with the right type of tap for surgeons. The standby Generator should be made functional or an alternative power supply provided to back up the PHCN power supply.
The waiting room will require vinyl tiles to conform with the adjoining doctor’s room and ramp which have just been tiled by the outgoing NYSC doctor.
The concrete ramp at the entrance of the hospital should be refashioned so that the gutter beneath can be accessed and cleared regularly to allow for free flow of rain water. The parking area should be marked out in the hospital front yard. There is the need to open up the drainage gutter in front the hospital.
When all the above outstanding issues have been accomplished, the clinic would truly be born. The next phase would be that of nurturing and making the clinic self-sustaining. Funds are required for this great accomplishment. We, therefore need to pray fervently for wisdom and strength to raise the needed funds and work tireless towards our target.
The future project is being broken into phases.
Phase 1
1. Replacement of all window mosquito nets around the hospital
2. Placing tiles on the floors
3. Installation of Anemometer to measure wind and solar potential of the Baptist hospital
Phase 2
1. Installation of doors for toilets and bathrooms
2. New WC’s bowls and shower heads
3. Painting of hospital walls
Phase 3
1. Installation of new medical equipment
2. Training of relevant staff in different aspects of hospital administration
3. Collating anemometer readings to determine the sizing of renewable energy needed for location
Phase 4
1. Sizing up of the hospital for installation of Solar and wind power generators
2. Training of relevant personnel in the making and installation for this equipment