…reels out achievements of Nordica fertility clinic, fibroid centre in FCT

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja

Leading fertility and fibroid treatment expert, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi has said that any private enterprise that survives up to 12 years in Nigeria,given the country’s economic situation which has forced many to close business,must be celebrated.

The Consultant Obstetrician, Gynaecologist and Chief Executive Officer of Nordica Fertility Centre and Nordica Fibroad Care,said this ahead of the 12-year anniversary of the health centres in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.

Recall that the health facility which was earlier established in Lagos in 2003,and later in Asaba,Delta State,in 2009,was extended to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT,in 2012 to treat people with fertility issues.

Since then,the foremost fertility clinic which expanded by adding fibroid care to its fold, has carved a niche for itself in the treatment of infertility and fibroids with the deployment of state-of-the-art equipment.

Speaking at a press conference he held via zoom, ahead of the anniversary on November 2,2024,Dr Ajayi reeled out achievements and innovations that Nordica has brought into the nation’s health care industry.

Going memory lane,Dr. Ajayi said:”The whole journey started in 2003, from Lagos and then in 2009,we went to Asaba and then in 2012,we opened in Abuja.”

Noting that since then,the fertility and fibroid treatment centres have brought smiles on the faces of many families in and around Abuja,Dr Ajayi expressed happiness that the facilities have continued to give patient satisfaction.

He said the centre’s treatment of fibroids is peculiar,given that it is the only one not only in Nigeria but the entire West African region to deploy High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound, otherwise known as HIFU in the treatment of fibroids.

The medical expert explained that HIFU,which is a non-invasive procedure, not requiring surgery was embraced by the centre upon discovery that many women that have fibroids were not favourably disposed to undergoing the surgery procedure.

He disclosed that since the deployment of the non-surgery machines,23 women with fibroad had successfully undergone the treatment in the facility in Abuja.

Asked to explain why Nordica Fertility and Fibroid Centre was putting on arrangements to mark the 12 years of existence in Abuja,Dr Ajayi said:” I guess it’s worthwhile to celebrate any private endeavour that has been able to survive for 12 years, especially in the climate in which we find ourselves in the last couple of years,in our nation.”

“I just read from the Director of Guild of Medical Directors, saying that about 50 percent of private hospitals in Nigeria have gone under because of this economic issues that we are facing and Nordica is not only 21 years old,the Abuja clinic is 12 years old.

“Apart from the fact that we are one of the first people to successfully do IVF in Nigeria,we have also been able to keep our heads afloat even in Abuja. So I think it’s worth celebrating. Again, that we are the only clinic in Nigeria and in West Africa that has this machine without surgery,I think it’s worth celebrating the 12th anniversary,”he added.

Speaking on innovation the facility has brought into the nation’s health care industry,Dr. Ajayi said:”I think we have brought in so many innovations into the industry. When we started in 2003,we said whatever is out there,we would want to bring it to Nigeria and I think we have largely succeeded in doing that.”

He spoke further:”We have so many things that are directly attributable to our existence, especially in the industry, majority of which are innovations. For example,we were the first to get regiment to stimulate our patients and we are probably the main user of that which makes it more comfortable for the patients to go through the stimulation protocol and which also reduces almost to zero, the chance of patients that are stimulating.

“In IVF, the biggest problem we have is hyper-stimulation which can actually kill and I can beat our chest and say in the last ten years, we have not had anybody who has been admitted for hyper-stimulation in our clinic because of what we have deployed.

“Apart from that is the fact that we have seen through some studies in our clinic that male infertility is a big thing. We were able to see that with about 12 percent of the patients in Nigeria because we have advantage-we are in the South West,we are in the South East,if you like,Asaba and we are also in the North Central,so we could say that we are in the East North and West and we have been able to look at the spectrum of the patients that we are seeing and we looked at over 900 patients and saw that in these patients, about 12 percent of them have no sperm count at all.

“And we have also seen that in the period of about ten years,the sperm count of the men that we are treating had deteriorated by about 30 percent. So, we saw the importance of treating male infertility and paying attention to male infertility and came out with so many things that will help in selecting the best sperm to use to fertilize the eggs of the women. So, we came out with what we call ICSI,we were the first to do ICSI,that is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection and others.

“We were the first to do the non-invasive testing where you don’t need to take sample.We are also very strong on non-invasive clinical testing. There are so many things that we have added to the industry which we are proud of.”

He explained more on why Nordica Fertility Centre deployed HIFU in the treatment of fibroids:”One problem we discovered is that many women with fibroids don’t want to do surgery and so they leave the fibroid to become so big and pose danger to their lives. That is the reason we went for HIFU, so that women can treat fibroid without necessarily going through surgery.

“And with this, you can treat your fibrod from early stage and prevent it from becoming so big and go back to your normal life, leaving 24 or 48 hours after this procedure. This method is superp and that is what we are doing now because we believe that no woman should die because they have fibroid.A disease that is 70 to 80 percent of women should be treated with all possible methods so that they can have their quality of life back .”

Dr. Ajayi also said Nordica is engaging in the service of eggs freezing, disclosing that the centre’s results in eggs freezing is something that is acceptable globally.

Hrar him:”Another thing that we do in Nordica is eggs freezing and I make bold to say that our results in eggs freezing is something that is acceptable worldwide. When we freeze eggs, we can tell you that when we look at our records, about 92.3 percent of the eggs that we froze,when we saw them,they are still alive. And that is something to be proud of because even the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says that if your freezing rate is about 85 percent,then you are perfect. So we can say with all sense of responsibility that our records are acceptable anywhere in the world. And this is particularly important for women who want to freeze selectively,that is they don’t have a partner yet and they want to freeze that is non medical reasons. And for people who want to freeze for medical reasons, from cancer to endometriosis,to even fibroid. We have the facilities to help such women.”