Angela Onwuzoo

A 30-bed accommodation has been donated by the Rotary Club, Ikeja GRA, to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, as part of efforts to provide support to families of patients accessing care at the facility.

The donation makes LASUTH the first public hospital in Lagos State with accommodation for patients’ relatives, according to the Chief Medical Director of the tertiary hospital, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo.

The club said the apartment would address the challenge of accommodation that families and relatives face whenever their sick loved ones are hospitalised at the health facility.

Rotary expressed worry that relatives of patients on admission often sleep on bare floors and in their cars at night because there are no accommodations in the hospital, while hotels in the vicinity are very expensive and out of reach for most families.

Physicians say when families face the challenge of supporting a loved one during a hospital stay; the emotional toll can be immense.

According to them, one of the major concerns that arise is finding suitable accommodation for the family members who need to be close to the hospital, stressing that having accommodation for patients’ relatives on the hospital premises ensures that families can easily access their loved ones and medical staff.

This proximity eliminates the need for long commutes, reducing stress and allowing family members to be readily available for support and care.

Unveiling the facility, President of Rotary Club Ikeja GRA, Adeyemi Adesina, said Rotary supported LASUTH with the apartment so that families and relatives of patients admitted at the hospital could have a decent place to have their bath, relax, and have a change of clothing.

Adesina said, “It is a caregiver quarter which is supposed to service those people who come to care for their loved ones within the hospital.

“We saw it as a need for people sleeping on the floor, corridor, and cars because they have a patient within the hospital. We considered it a need that should be met one way or the other.

“We are providing a 36-bed apartment but we know that the need is more than that because due to our culture, we don’t normally abandon our loved one in the hospital. So, we have been able to do that.”

He noted that the facility was provided for anyone having a patient at LASUTH irrespective of social and financial status, adding that the idea of Rotary is giving to society, helping the needy, and making a positive impact on the environment.

“We just want people to have a decent place to take a nap, sleep, take a shower, and have a convenient place to eat. We don’t want you to be stressed taking care of your loved ones. I think this facility will be able to provide those services.

“You don’t need to go too far before you can have a good bath or use the restroom.  We spent over N65 million on the facility and we have provided beds. We  are  still going to be providing fans and air conditioners  to  ensure that the facility is well furnished and very convenient for people.”

The District Governor of Rotary International District 9110, covering all the Rotary Clubs in Lagos and Ogun states, Ifeyinwa  Ejezie, said the provision of the facility will put an end to the era of caregivers sleeping in the corridor and in cars while caring for their loved ones within the hospital.

She said the accommodation was a way of giving back to society and doing good in the world.

“Caregivers will be using the facility and caring for their loved ones in the hospital and I think LASUTH is the first to have such a facility in Lagos”, Ejezie said.

Commending Rotary for the donation, LASUTH CMD, Prof.  Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said, “We are excited to have such a facility. You know that in the beginning, we were sceptical; we didn’t know that they would be able to fulfil their promise. But they made us very proud.

“They have been able to fulfil their promise of erecting this structure in a record time. So we are very happy.

“We are going to boast that we are the only public hospital in the state that has provided a structure where relatives of patients can lay their heads at night instead of just sleeping all over the compound and inside their cars and so on.

“We are still relation-dependent health facilities. However, this is not the case in developed countries. The reality is that relatives stay with their patients and they have to sleep.”