I became DCST/CMAC in 2001, that is, 19 years ago when Dr. Olugbile was the Chief Medical Director. We were saddled with the responsibility of moving the hospital from being just a general hospital to a tertiary institution which LASUTH has become. I visited the DCST of LUTH at that time, Prof. Arigbabu and Prof. Malomo at the University of Ibadan to compare notes and seek advice on how to effectively deliver on the job I had been assigned. We forged relationships with the Members of the Lagos State College of Medicine and absolved some of them into LASUTH as honorary consultants, though the Lagos State Government (LASG) wasn't very confident of that arrangement because they thought the frequent ASUU strikes that prevailed at that time would affect the activities at the hospital, but we overcame the challenges and the attendant issues that came with it. We had to put in place systems and structures that would help the hospital move away from a general hospital status to a tertiary institution. We had Ayinke house already which was a standard in its own right. We also had the old ICU, BT Wards, then came the Pediatric wards. As we progressed, and developed, situation started changing and now we have the new Ayinke house, the new BT wards and BT lab.
We moved on to getting accreditation for our clinical programmes; while at it, the Ministry of Health gave LASUTH some funds to upgrade our services. We invited the different accrediting Colleges; for some we got partial accreditation while for some others we got full accreditation one of which was for Obstetrics & Gynaecology where we did not only have full accreditation, but also had a fellow in person of Dr. Oyedele. We also had to deal with some attitudinal lapses in the staff. We had to start some series of trainings, symposia and teachings to re-orientate staff on how they relate with the different publics of the hospital. A lot of work has gone into that and I believe we are making progress, gradually.
Fortunately for me, LASUTH has always been a part of me so, I'm not in a strange territory. For many years I have been a Prof. of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the College of Medicine and Consultant for Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the Ifako Ijaiye General Hospital. My predecessor has done a good job to take LASUTH to where it is today, but we still have a lot of work to do. First of all, the issues at the Operating Suites in the Theatres had to be hurriedly addressed. As we speak, a lot has been done and will still be done because it's an on-going project. We have a good relationship with the State Government and with the help of the current Head of Service, Mr. Akeem Muri Okunola who tabled the issue of getting more staff in the hospital before the Executive Governor and approval was given for the recruitment of 120 Resident Doctors who have started work. We noticed that many academic staff of the College have qualified to be appointed as honorary consultants, now that our subvention has been increased, we can now put that into consideration. Generally, the position of the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH is really hands-on and I have been encouraged by the staff from various Departments. They have been cooperative and that has made the job easier
I believe that LASUTH has the capacity to be a quaternary institution which means moving beyond being a tertiary institution and how do we get there? We have earmarked avenues through which we can do more. Some of which include; Gradually developing the emergency unit to become a training institute or school where we train Doctors to become Emergency Doctors and nurses. We will institutionalize our Renal Transplant Services by having more foreign missions and also have our doctors visit hospitals abroad to learn and bring back what they have learnt to train others here in LASUTH. Developing more Doctors to becoming embryologists and IVF doctors through the Institute of Fertility Medicine here in LASUTH. We plan to develop schools in Occupational Therapy, such that our Psychiatry Department can use the skills acquired in the rehabilitation of patients.