What comes to your mind when a man tells you that he dreams of pregnant women every night? One can only imagine but that’s the case of this very active young man who finally fell for it… The dream was persistent and he just had to do something.
Gbolahan Nureni Sodipo popularly called Dr. Creek did his National Youth Service at Enugu State. That was the beginning of a journey that has metamorphosed into something huge.
During his service year, Dr. Creek would go to Obolafor, Enugu Ezike, its environs, and many remote towns and villages in the Eastern part of Nigeria to attend to the medical needs of locals who live far from healthcare providers. He confessed to feeling fulfilled from being able to help these people who needed his services more, and who would have died without it. “That was how I developed a passion for going places ordinary doctors won’t dare go to,” he said.
After his service year, Dr. Creek came to Lagos and began working with a hospital at Ajegunle. “I noticed that most of the pregnant women coming across the water from riverine areas usually have one complication or the other. Many used to lose their children immediately after birth while some die during pregnancy. So I wanted to know more about pregnant women and see how I could be of help. I gave my personal phone number to all my pregnant patients and asked them to call me whenever they are having any issues whether during pregnancy, labour, or after delivery.
“I gave them a promise that I will come over myself with the hospital ambulance and pick them to the hospital. It helped quite a lot of them from the riverine communities like Snake Island, Sagbokogi, Ituagan, etc., where different complications and loss of their lives and those of their children were rampant.
“One afternoon, after morning duty I set out to find out where these patients were coming from and I was surprised to find out that there was no way I could help with my ambulance. I was told I had to cross the water on a boat There were a good number of pregnant women and children but no standard hospital there to help at times of emergencies, especially at night.
“At night, when most are in labour and other health emergencies happen, the boats hardly operate. I got there one afternoon and discovered that the Health Centre serving them was shut. I was now left to wonder about the fate of these vulnerable people when it comes to healthcare. I thought of the fate of hundreds of thousands of innocent children and pregnant women living and working in these communities. I decided I had to do something, even though I just married and moved to Lagos.
“I could not remove the matter from my mind. I was dreaming about these pregnant women and their plight every night. Initially, I had wanted to travel abroad like most young doctors, make a lot of money and come back and establish a private hospital in Nigeria. But then I resigned, moved to Snake Island, and started my first hospital in a three-bedroom flat. To my utmost surprise, patients were coming, though we had no beds, wooden couches, and a standard laboratory. I and two nurses started to save lives and were help a lot of people. They were coming with their friends and neighbors and the hospital became an immediate success.
“After a month I got a visa to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) and I was confused. Do I leave the new hospital and travel to the UK? What happens to these people? What happens to my new hospital? Who takes care of these people?
These and other questions were racing through my mind. I travelled to the UK in May 2010 and returned after two months because I knew the seriousness of their plight, medics do not like going to such places, and standard, health care is completely absent over there.
“That was how relocated back to Nigeria and decided to help them. Since then, I have been doing everything I deem appropriate to help save the lives of these less privileged, innocent children and pregnant women. Today I have two private hospitals in riverine areas of Lagos and we keep doing our best for these indigent women.
The Eagle
