Coca-Cola delivers equipment to UITH

Left: Director, Biomedical Engineering Training & Technical Services, Medshare, Eben Armstrong; Coca-Cola's Communication Manager, Ifeyinwa Ejindu; Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, (UITH), Dr. L.O. Odeigah; Consultant Physician and Nephrologist, (UITH), Dr. T.O. Olanrewaju; and Distribution Manager - Ilorin, Nigerian Bottling Company, Tejumola Opeyemi, during the event  recently.

Story by Lord Segun

The Coca-Cola System in Nigeria says its unwavering commitment to help develop the health and educational sector in the country.

This happens, as the company donated ultra modern medical equipment to the University of Ilorin under its Safe Birth Initiative ( SBI) recently.

The idea is in continuation of the efforts of Coca Cola to strategically improve maternal and neonatal mortality system in one of the most institutions in Nigeria.

While presenting the equipment, which is estimated to be over $500,000.00 yesterday ( Thursday), the firm's Communication Manager,Ifeyinwa Ejindu describes the concept as the health-centric,  with which Coca-Cola System seeks to reduce the high rate of deaths being recorded during childbirth for mothers and newborns in Nigeria.

She noted that the initiative was launched in 2018 to deliver equipment and technical capacity building in tertiary health institutions across Nigeria, which she was optimistic would contribute in bridging the shortfall in the availability of state-of-the-art medical equipment and skilled manpower to effectively maintain and utilise available equipment. 

The Chief Medical Director, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Prof Abdullah D. Yussuf said that the intervention of Coca Cola in the  healthcare sector is timely and beneficial to the country.

According to Prof Yussuf, who was represented at the occasion by Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, (C-MAC), UITH, Dr. L.O. Odeigah, some of the prominent gains of SBI’s intervention include capacity building, helping secure accreditation for courses and improved medical care. 

He cited the cost savings the Institution recorded with the intervention which has seen several moribund medical equipment resuscitated, the human capacity built which would ensure sustainable use of the equipment and the role played by the equipment in securing accreditation for certain courses by the Institution. 

She said: “On behalf of UITH and those who would be benefiting from the equipment, I want to register gratitude to the donors, Coca-Cola Nigeria. It is evident that the equipment being presented to us today comes with cutting-edge technology that will aid solution to complex medical conditions. I am certain that this will impact the entire Kwara State and beyond”. 

She noted that  SBI was launched in 2018 in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, and US-based NGO, Medshare International, with a view to supporting and strengthening the country’s healthcare capacity and further help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the areas of maternal and new-born mortalities. 

She added that this year’s interventions have seen top-notch equipment donated to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Rivers State, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, (AKTH), Kano, earlier this year, before the donations made to UITH in Ilorin, Kwara State. She indicated that the company will continue to deepen interventions with the possibility of impacting a fourth health institution before the year runs out. 

According to her, before the kickoff of this year’s SBI, it had reached over 56,000 families with over 21,000 mothers and babies impacted through its social investment program. Similarly, under the initiative, Coca-Cola Nigeria has successfully upskilled over 300 biomedical engineers and 400 end-users with requisite knowledge and skills to ensure optimal utilisation of the medical equipment, and their effective maintenance.  

The impact of the SBI could be best appreciated under the background that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), places the neonatal mortality rate in Nigeria as at 2022 at 56.220 deaths per 1000 live births, a 2.57 per cent decline from 2021.  

According to UNICEF, the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria currently contributes to 10 percent of the global death rate as it stands at 576 per 100,000 live births. This means that each year, over 262,000 babies die due to issues such as diarrhea, infection, premature birth, asphyxia, or congenital anomalies.  

Similarly, the Director, Biomedical Engineering Training & Technical Services, Medshare International, Even. Armstrong  expressed commitment of his company to the triangle partnership as they recognise the extent of damages, which high neonatal and maternal mortality rates causes in the families.

He said, ‘’We are a humanitarian aid organisation dedicated to improving the lives of people all over the world. We just don’t provide equipment, we provide capacity building to the biomedical engineers and technicians aiding their efficient usage of available medical equipment, and this has brought hope to countless Nigerians through the Safe Birth Initiative”. 

Hospitals, which have benefited from the scheme

 include National Hospital Abuja, Federal Medical Center, Ebute-Metta, Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Wesley Guild Hospital Ilesha, and Alimosho General Hospital.