A medical expert and Medical Director of Alliance Hospital and Services, Dr. Christopher Otabor, has raised concern over the increase in the number of persons who go through the challenges of infertility in Nigeria and beyond attributing part of the problems to social issues.
According to him, more women “would want more time to pursue their careers before getting married or having children.”
Otabor stated this in Abuja during the commissioning of a state-of-the art In Vitro Fertilization Center and a 64 slice revolution maxima CT acquired by the Hospital.
He added that in every woman who is 35 years and above, the ability for her to produce reduces drastically as compared to if she were younger, a development, he said, has given rise to persons seeking IVF.
The medical doctor added that couples going through fertility challenges from the month of April now have a solution as the two commissioned projects which he said cost over N500 million represented a significant milestone in the quest to reverse the tide of medical tourism in Nigeria.
He said, “If foreigners can travel down to Alliance Hospital for their kidney transplant, it is time for Nigeria to take us seriously”.
The doctor also corrected the notion where when a couple is facing infertility challenges, the woman is singled out to be the fault.
Otabor said, “When there’s infertility, the couple need to be evaluated. It could be from the woman, it could be from the man or it could be a combination of both statistically. It is said that one third of all cases of infertility is the problem with the woman and one third is the problem with the man and the other one third is a combination of the two of them.
“Please take note that I didn’t say the fault because we are not to give blame to anybody. It’s not a matter of blame, it’s a matter of the source of the inability to conceive. The fact that a woman is not able to conceive does not mean that she’s at fault. It may just be the way she’s wired, may be hormonal problem and she doesn’t have anything to do with it, it’s not within her control.”
He also explained that the machines would definitely make life easier for his clinicians, noting that it would solve many of the diagnostic dilemmas previously encountered in the process of making diagnosis and treatment of complex medical conditions as well as be a great support for women empowerment.
“With advancement of contemporary Nigerian society and women empowerment in terms of career pursuit, many of our women now get into their thirties before settling down in marriage. Science has shown that reproductive efficiency reduces with female age. A good number of the women getting married and desiring to be pregnant will require some form of assistance for them to achieve that desire.
“I give credit to some of the pioneers of IVF services in Nigeria and Abuja particularly. Even though we now have a good number of centres now offering IVF services, yet the demand, still outweighs the supply. Alliance Hospital will play its own part in contributing to the solution of infertility through our IVF centre”, Otabor said.
He said that in the past 10 years, healthcare services in Nigeria have experienced tremendous growth and sophistication, especially from the angle of private sector, with Abuja taking the lead as a preferred destination for medical treatment by patients across Nigeria and beyond.
Otabor said, “In the past three years, Alliance Hospital has done 75 kidney transplant surgeries with 96 per cent success rate. A number of our kidney transplant patients flew in from outside Nigeria.”
The Deputy Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. R. Adeyemi, said the the centre envisioned a Nigeria where medical care is of highest standard and world class.
Apart from helping to reduce medical tourism, Adeyemi said that with the medical advancement, infertility which has continued to plague women and men in the reproductive age have been defeated.
