By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, is to undertake its first In Vitro Fertilization, IVF, treatment of 25 women in April.

The Chief Medical Director, CMD, of the hospital, Dr. Stephen Hwande who made this known Wednesday in Makurdi said the women involved had already been recruited and were being prepared ahead of the treatment.

He explained that the specialist to perform the treatment were all in the hospital adding that Governor Hycinth Alia had also subsidized the cost of the treatment.

He said “we have already recruited 25 women with infertility for the IVF services of the hospital. So the hospital’s first batch of IVF will be in April to May. We are going to undertake that at the Muhammadu Buhari hospital annex and the Governor has directed that the services should be subsidized for these women in this first batch.

“They are already in process and it will be completed and by April to first week of May, we will have the 25 women go through the assisted reproduction.

“Usually, IVF processes are very expensive and for us to start in the public sector, in the whole country you may not find up to five teaching hospitals that are involved in IVF. So with this, the BSUTH will soon be put on the map of teaching hospitals that are involved in IVF.

The CMD lauded Governor Alia for approving the recruitment of over 400 medical and non medical personnel in the hospital.

He said when he assumed duties last October he discovered the hospital lacked necessary manpower “and the human resources to drive the hospital in key areas was not there.”

The hospital embarked on the recruitment of capable hands to fill vacant important spaces and now we have “pediatric surgeons, plastic surgeons, dermatologists and in this recruitment process, we have been able to bring in ophthalmologist, optometrists, dentals, including physiotherapists, radiologists and all cadres of staff.

“We employed about 140 nurses and over 60 doctors. So within the budget of the hospital, we have employed 400 staff into the Teaching Hospital by the Government of Benue state.”