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About 35 per cent of people living in Ibadan are hypertensive, the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, has said.
Alonge who revealed this at weekend while featuring on Fresh FM, Ibadan, added that most of these hypertensive persons were not aware of their conditions.
He discovery was made in a project it initiated during which its medical staff visited residents in their homes and offices to conduct some tests.
Alonge stressed the need for Nigerians to take their health seriously by embracing preventive measures to reduce incidents of sudden deaths.
He said: “The commonest cause of deaths in adult population since 2004 is stroke due to hypertension. From our tests, about 35 per cent of residents in Ibadan are hypertensive.”
He also called on governments of the six Southwest states to support the UCH because the patients came mostly from the states.
The hospital boss also disclosed that to help poor patients who sometimes run away after treatments due to inability to pay hospital bills or reduce preventable deaths among poor patients, doctors make monthly contributions from their salaries to a fund from where the hospital draws.
In the hospital’s efforts to reduce negative impact of poor funding, Alonge revealed that the hospital has concluded plans to manufacture all fluids and some basic drugs being commonly used. He said the production would commence within the next six months.
The project would be undertaken through public private partnership (PPP).
The project, he said, would also include provision of certain equipment which the hospital can not currently afford. The equipment will bring convenience to patients as well as possibly reduce cost of tests.