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The Management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin has given a permanent employment opportunity to the couple whose conjoined twins were separated by the specialists in the teaching hospital.
It is recalled that a multi disciplinary team of medical experts in the teaching hospital, with the assistance of the Kwara state government, performed a successful surgical operation separating the conjoined twins in May 2021.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Monday, the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of the UITH, Dr Louis Odeiga, said that the job opportunity was to enable the couple to take care of the babies to realize their potential in life.
The CMAC/director of clinical services and training UITH, who said that the couple were jobless when the conjoined twins were born, added that the couple are now working in one of the health facilities of the teaching hospital in New Bussa, Niger state.
“As at the time the surgery was done on the children, the parents were not employed. So, the CMD of the UITH had to employ them in a way to empower them and to make sure the children realize their potential and today they are employees of the teaching hospital.
“Hitherto in our society, especially in some geopolitical zones of the country, they are the ones called evil children. They were either killed or thrown into rivers etc. If it had happened then, probably the children would have been forgotten. And they can rise to any level or even head this country because they’ve been separated and are normal”.
He also said that one of the philanthropic organizations in the country, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, facilitated by a Centre for Democracy, Research and Development of the Chief of Staff to the president, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, made a financial donation for the upkeep of the twins for the next five years.
Dr Odeiga, who said that the UITH is one of the well-equipped teaching hospitals in the country, especially in the last two years, however, added that the hospital can still do with more medical infrastructure to perform better in its core mandates.
“Equipment we’ve got in the last two years, especially in the laboratory, we never thought we could have got them in the next 10 years. As far as laboratory is concerned, we’re very fully equipped. One of the key things in medical diagnosis is what’s called molecular diagnosis through PCR machines. It picks where ailments start in the system which naked eyes cannot see. We never had that not only here but in the country. And many research works could not be done before here because of the absence. Covid-19 helped us to build our capacity. PCR is needed for epidemic, infection and all that. Kwara state now has seven PCR machines. We have four PCR machines here now in the UITH. The university has two and the state ministry of Health has one”.
Dr Odeiga, who said that access to health care is still a challenge in the country, added that Nigeria needs to build new equipped hospitals as well as equip the existing ones better to take of the health care needs of the populace.
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