The Chief Medical Director of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Professor John Okeniyi, has reiterated the institution’s commitment to enhancing staff welfare to drive optimal performance.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the alumni of CMS Grammar School to the hospital on Friday, Professor Okeniyi highlighted various strides made by the hospital’s management to create a more supportive and rewarding environment for employees. These efforts, he explained, include better working conditions, regular promotions, and recognition of exceptional contributions by staff.
Reflecting on the challenges he met upon assuming office, Okeniyi revealed that there had been industrial unrest caused by unauthorised employment. However, he assured that the issue has since been resolved and the system is now running efficiently.
“The system has been sanitised, and we’ve had two promotion exams. The first one, almost 400 staff, while the second this year, 774 staff were promoted on merit,” he stated.
He stressed that staff are now promoted strictly on merit without having to engage in lobbying, noting that about 100 junior staff members have also been upgraded and promoted accordingly.
“So, in terms of staff welfare and promotion, I think we are doing excellently well. We are trying to redeploy resources.
“In terms of our call mandate, ours is to provide excellent services, and we are doing well in surgeries like open heart surgery, complex congenital heat diseases.
“This is helping Nigeria to avert capital flight instead of travelling to India, Egypt, and Israel among other countries,” he stated.
Professor Okeniyi also disclosed that OAUTHC is in its third phase of training cardiothoracic personnel and continues to invest heavily in staff development, research, oncology, and paediatric care.
He emphasised that the institution runs multiple training schools for nurses, community health workers, medical record officers, and radiographers.
“We are moving from analogue to digital age. We have started deploying our electronic health records, and this year we’ll digitalise the administration of this hospital.
“We have 19 accreditation visits for all our programmes, hoping to get good results, all the previous 18, we have heard excellent results. All our programmes here are fully accredited,” he disclosed.
The CMD expressed gratitude to the visiting CMS Grammar School alumni, assuring them of his continued commitment to upholding the values of the school as one of its proud ambassadors.
The association’s chairman, Mr Babajide Adeagbo of the 1984 set, praised Professor Okeniyi for his impactful leadership at OAUTHC and affirmed the group’s continued support.
CMS Grammar School, Lagos, was established on 6 June 1859.