Prof  Temitope Alonge, the Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, on Friday, pledged the hospital’s continued commitment to give holistic primary healthcare service to the aged in the country.

He made the pledge at the closing ceremony of a two-week training programme organised by UCH on “Basic Certificate Course in Geriatric Medicine.”

Alonge, who said that 18 doctors participated, added that the training was a unique way of solving the challenges faced in caring for the elderly.

He noted that geriatric medicine was complete way of taking care of the elderly, adding that the training, which was the second of its kind by UCH, would go a long way in providing basic knowledge needed by doctors to handle geriatric challenges in hospitals.

He explained that the training was part of Federal Government’s efforts to provide good healthcare services to citizens.

He noted that “there is an increasing focus on healthcare delivery for the elderly, hitherto treated as adult patients.

“I congratulate participants of this training because it is our expectation that they will make good use of what they learned during the programme.

“By next course, some of the participants will come in as session leaders for break out or parallel courses.”

Alonge announced that the Geriatric Association of Nigeria, which would comprise only Geriatricians, would be launched later in the year.

Dr Lawrence Adebusuyi, the Director of the Tony Annenih Geriatric Centre, UCH,
said there was low turnout of participants at this year’s training due to the economic situation in the country.

He said “most of the federal tertiary hospitals we invited to sponsor participants could not meet up with the financial implications, hence the low turnout.

He explained that the Tony Anennih Geriatric Centre, established in 2012, was to give special focus on diagnosis and treatment of the elderly in the society, with the assistance of Chief Tony Annenih and the management of UCH.

Adebusuyi said “the centre focuses primarily on clinical care of the older persons through advancement of research and education in geriatrics through a patient-and-family centred care in a culturally sensitive environment.”

Meanwhile, some of the participants told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the training was rich, detailed and an encouragement to them in geriatric medicine.

Dr Benjamin Yakubu from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, said geriatric medicine and primary healthcare for the elderly was a relatively new area in medicine.

He said “the course content was rich as it addressed all areas of care for the elderly.

“This type of training is new and has never been organised in the northern part of the country; it is a rare privilege for me to attend.

“With my 20 years as medical practitioner, what I have learnt in the programme is worth the while and will help me in taking care of the elderly in my hospital.”

Another participant, Dr Ayodeji Ogunbiyi, Senior Registrar at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Oshogbo, said “the training should be upgraded so that doctors could have detailed knowledge of geriatric medicine.

“Other teaching hospitals should take a cue from UCH by organising this kind of training for doctors.”

Dr Uduak Morgan, also a participant and Family Physician from University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, said she was happy to attend the programme.

She added that “the training touched on current evidence-based information on management of the elderly by experienced faculty members.

“I have to put what I learnt into practice; I have to train up-coming doctors in geriatric medicine with four-pronged approach of; care, training, research and advocacy.

“I also intend to influence the management of the hospital where I work to open a geriatric unit in the Department of Family Medicine.”