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| State-of-the-art theatre at Lily Hospital, Warri, Delta State |
Our facilities, services, make medical tourism unattractive, say doctors...
Hundreds of hitherto barren
partners are now having babies through the delicate breakthrough process known
as In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) at Lily Hospital in Warri, Delta state.
The Guardian learnt that
over 200 babies have been delivered through IVF at the privately-owned
Hospital, which is reportedly pioneering the method in the Niger Delta region
and has acquired state-of-the-art medical equipment for IVF births as well as
paraphernalia for urology, orthopedic, otorhinolaryngology (treatment of ear,
nose and throat) and key-hole surgery among others – all in the effort to end medical
tourism by Nigerians.
The facilities at the Lily
Hospital are said to be a relief to Nigeria’s deficient health sector as
medical experts from other parts of the world including doctors from India team
up with Nigerian doctors to give specialist medicare to patients, several of
who are tourists from outside Nigeria.
Director of the IVF programme at the Lily Hospital, Dr. Louis Alekwe, told The
Guardian that over 200 babies had been successful delivered via the IVF
procedure at the hospital. He said even barren women over 50 years old have had
babies including women who don’t have womb – as a surrogate mothers could be
arranged to bear the pregnancy.
According to the doctor,
even if a woman does not have a womb another woman could be made to carry the
pregnancy for her. “That is if the woman’s eggs and the man’s sperm were used
the IVF process the baby will look exactly like the man or woman because it is
a genetic thing; the genes you are look at.”
He explained: “Many couples
come here with their marriage at the brinks. We try to counsel them that what
they really need is hope. There is really no reason why anybody should not have
a child now; most people can be helped. If they can come forward most people
can be helped. There are very few you cannot do anything for. There are always
fears.”
Alekwe recalled a touching
IVF case he handled at the hospital involving an elderly man married to a woman
of about 34 years. Despite marrying for several years they remained childless.
“The man didn’t believe
they could have baby through IVF. The woman came to me I checked her out and
she was okay, then I invited the husband the man kept refusing. The woman broke
down and cried. Later the man came we checked him there was no sperm in the
ejaculate but we discovered that every other thing was okay with him. So it
might have been a blockage of the testis and where the sperm comes out from. So
we said let us try the testis if we will find sperm and when we found sperm –
the man was happy! It was like a major victory, we had her IVF done and the
woman had a beautiful baby girl.
“The husband did not
believe he felt that what we were doing was a scam until the pregnancy came out
and he believed. After then she had had two other babies through IVF.”
He disclosed that there are
cases where the man’s testis is not producing sperm and that the man will have
to decide whether to accept a sperm from another man – as there is hardly
medical remedy to the condition – and that it is quite difficult to accept by
some men.
On the common belief in
Nigeria that childlessness was always the fault of women, the doctor said
infertility is not only a problem associated with women but that it cuts across
both men and women on 30 per cent ratio.
“It is more difficult for
the men to accept- most of the time the women are willing, even when you tell a
woman she doesn’t have eggs she is always willing to accept eggs from the other
women, men find it much more difficult. Some women come here with the two tubes
blocked, we go ahead and do the IVF. The normal process of conception is the
man sleeps with the woman and deposit sperms there, they travel and get into
the tubes the woman releases her eggs. The eggs enter this tube so the sperm
and the egg meets there and they form the baby, so if this is blocked there is
no way the egg and sperm can meet naturally. The usual cause of blockage most
times is infection,” Alekwe said.
It was learnt that
Nigerians and non Nigerians come from the United Kingdom (U.K.), Ireland,
Canada, United States (U.S.) and other African countries on medical visit to
the hospital because they reportedly discovered that even though the standard
are the same as those in the advanced countries services are cheaper especially
when air fares are factored in.
Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, recently commissioned the massive
four-storey edifice housing the Lily Hospital with its modern medical equipment
ranging from dopler scans, CT scans, 3D and 4D scan, ECG, Spirometry and
Audiometry, and he said that with the up-to-date equipment he saw at the
hospital that there was no need for Nigerians to embark on medical tourism.
A computerised tomography
(CT) scan uses X-rays and a computer to create detailed images of the inside of
the body. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a test that records the electrical
activity of the heart. Spirometry is a test that can help diagnose various lung
conditions, most commonly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). An
audiometry exam tests your ability to hear sounds.
Similarly, the operating officer
at Lily Hospitals, Dr. Austin Godwin Okogun, told The Guardian that with the
advancement in the medical sector in Nigeria there was no need for Nigerians to
travel out of the country to seek medical aid as several private hospitals in
the country including Lily were now equipped with latest tools to manage any
medical condition.
