St. Ives Specialist Hospital has launched SwiftMed Urgent Care Clinic across three locations in Eko Atlantic City, Ikeja in Lagos, and Abeokuta in Ogun state to bridge healthcare service delivery across both states.
“Over the last 30 years, we’ve established five, ongoing to six specialist hospitals, and we felt it’s high time that all those specialist hospitals offer secondary to tertiary care level services,” Babatunde Okewale, founder & chief medical director, St. Ives Specialist Hospital, said at the launch of SwiftMed Urgent Care Clinic, Tower A, Eko Pearl, Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to him, the initiative was influenced by the need to offer primary healthcare service across its locations. He added that the idea is to bring healthcare closer to the people. “The promise is a walk-in clinic; you don’t need an appointment. And we hope to launch more of this to bring healthcare closer to the populace,” he said.
Okewale said that the urgent care clinic was modeled after the United States of America’s healthcare service delivery for day-to-day 24/7 walk-in clinic and concierge home service. “An urgent care clinic basically is a kind of clinic where you can go to for your day-to-day activity. You have a small cough in that clinic.
“If you need a blood test, it’s done almost immediately. If you need basic x-ray, it’s done almost immediately. If you need medications, the pharmacy is there,” Okewale said.
Gbenga Badejo, chartered accountant and management consultant, said an environment like Eko Atlantic City with eyebrow investments, needs a facility that caters to the healthcare needs and living conditions of the inhabitants.
According to him, SwiftMed Urgent Care Clinic will cater for people around Eko Atlantic and environs, especially in an emergency situation. He added that having a facility that caters to the well-being of residents is a modern way of taking care of people’s health.
“The truth about it is that there must be a health care delivery system for a high-profile facility like this. It’s good to ensure that in every environment that you find yourself, there are facilities that can cater for good living,” Badejo said.
Busola Ajibola, the acting chief executive officer (CEO), St. Ives Specialist Hospital, said the clinic was created to offer express healthcare service to every patient. According to her, SwiftMed is an American style urgent care model, which is purely an outpatient clinic.
“Well, the inspiration is we wanted to bring healthcare closer to people. The traditional hospital experience where you have lots of people wait before they are being seen, we’re trying to eliminate that by reducing the wait time,” Ajibola said.
Seyi John Salau is a BusinessDay Correspondent with interest in development journalism, which tells stories that connect the people, brands, and the government. SeyiJohn is also a media professional with BSc, Mass Communition (ACU); Masters of School Media (MSM, Ibadan) & MSc, Mass Communication (Caleb).
Source: