LEADERS ON THE RISE
Richardson Ajayi: Giving Succour To Childless Couples
By Chris Ajaero
Monday, May 23, 2005
Richardson Adebayo Ajayi, managing director of The Bridge Clinic is a chip off the old block. His is a typical case of a son taking after his father. This is not surprising because as a child, he had a great admiration for his late father, Richard Adejumo Ajayi, proprietor of the popular Ajayi Memorial Hospital, Lagos.
Ajayi felt strongly that his father's life was worthy of emulation. This largely informed his love for the medical profession just like his father. He is so passionate about his father and this had much influence on his life and choice of a career. He said: "I never thought about doing anything else. Growing up, I saw how he lived. I enjoyed his life, watching him doing what he enjoyed most. I enjoyed the accolades his patients gave him, they loved him. The staff loved him. And as far as I was concerned, that is how I wanted to live. So, I spent all my life trying to emulate him. I never ever considered another career."
Expectedly, when Ajayi filled his application form for university admission, he entered medicine as his first, second and third choice and nothing else. Although his father died when the young man was about 15 years old, Ajayi has not only followed his footsteps but perfectly stepped into his shoes. Today, he has carved a niche for himself as an obstetrician and gynaecologist who specialises in in-vitro fertilisation, IVF.
He has so far successfully delivered 350 babies through this method. Indeed, the Bridge Clinic which he set up in 1999 in collaboration with consultants from the prestigious Kings College Hospital, London is Nigeria's first focused, assisted conception clinic. Ajayi's mission is to use the knowledge of his medical team in the science of reproduction to provide hope for couples in Nigeria that desire children.
The Bridge Clinic has recorded a number of break throughs in Nigeria. These include: The first conception and live birth following intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI; the first conception and live birth following ICSI with surgically collected sperms; the first birth following in-vitro fertilisation, IVF, and gestational surrogacy, and the birth of a child of the desired sex for family balancing, following ICSI with 'sorted' sperm.
Ajayi explained how he was able to achieve some of these break throughs. "We delivered our first baby by the revolutionary technique of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI, in January, 2000. In August 2000, we delivered our first baby from a man with no sperm cells in his ejaculate. We had to go to the testicles to get sperm. We are also the first to have a baby by Gestation of surrogacy in a woman who lost a uterus during childbirth and lost a baby as well. We were able to collect eggs from her and fertilise them with her husband's sperm and transfer them to a surrogate."
Ajayi earned his MBBS with distinction from the Kings College Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London in July 1988. In November 1993, he got his fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, MRCOG.
He told Newswatch that he was inspired to delve into fertility management because while working in the United Kingdom, he noticed that a lot of Nigerians were coming over there for fertility treatment. He felt that there was really no need for the frequent visit to the UK by Nigerians in search of such expensive treatment which could have been done in Nigeria if such a clinic existed in the country then. He also discovered that fertility treatment is a field of medicine where he could make a difference in people's lives.
Propelled by these factors and his sense of patriotism, Ajayi returned to Nigeria in 1996 and incorporated The Bridge Clinic. The choice of the name The Bridge Clinic encapsulates his vision for the hospital. According to him, two concepts came into his mind when he thought about the name. The first is that there is a big technology gap between Nigeria and the kind of treatment people require. "So, we said, we will bridge that technology gap," he said. The second concept that came to his mind was the fact that when somebody is infertile, he or she is in a barren land and on the other side, there is a fertile land."So, we bridge that gap from the barren land to the fertile land. So, the choice of the name is symbolic," Ajayi told Newswatch.
Exuding confidence, the fertility management expert said that the clinic is quality-focused and compares favourably with similar ones in the Western world. Its quality management system and laboratory are world class. Besides, the processes are in conformity with the European standards.
In order to assist people to protect their fertility, he recently came up with a new initiative known as Let It Happen Naturally, LIN. He said that the idea is to use the 10-point poster which the clinic has circulated all over the country to enlighten people on things they can do to protect their fertility and avoid going for IVF which is quite expensive.
He also painstakingly engages couples with fertility problems in a lot of counseling. This, he said, is because they require adequate information about the basic science of reproduction. "Every month, we have a welcome forum where couples come to sit, share experiences. Sometimes we have people who've been through the process, who are there to counsel and advise others... The important thing is that they usually bring along a baby who has been delivered following this treatment, and they get an opportunity to listen to testimonies," Ajayi said.
Despite the successes recorded by The Bridge Clinic in in-vitro fertilisation, Ajayi believes that it is just the beginning of the realisation of his dream to make assisted conception treatment available in Nigeria. To him, the clinic is touching a limited proportion of the society and so there is still a lot of work to do.
Humble and unassuming, he told Newswatch that God endowed him with this scientific knowledge specifically to use it to bless His people. He said: "I believe firmly that we are doing God's work. Only God makes life. Every result we get from The Bridge Clinic is a glory to God and is nothing to do with us. And we can never make anybody pregnant no matter how hard we try, because the objective of everything we do is to put embryo into the uterus. And embrayo is not the baby. God still has to take those embrayos and breathe life into them and the result is pregnancy."
One other factor that has helped Ajayi to excel in his profession is that he is lucky to be married to a fellow doctor. Pamela, his wife is a doctor and the managing director of Patcare Nigeria Pathology Services Company.
Ajayi told Newswatch that the fact that both of them are doctors has helped them to understand the pressures and challenges that they go through in their professional practice. They have two children.
Although Ajayi is a very busy man, he still finds time to relax. His hobbies include, rugby, judo, squash and cooking. He learnt how to cook from his mother, Phyllis, a dietician.
Ajayi was born on January 17, 1965 in the United Kingdom. He spent his early childhood in Nigeria and studied briefly at Igbobi College, Yaba, before he left for UK. He did his O'level and A'Level in Mullifield School, Somerset, England. He later proceeded to the King's College Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London where the foundation for what he is doing for the society today was laid.
Over the years, he has been honoured for his immense contributions to the society and drive for professional excellence. He won the Lederle Prize in Dermatology in 1988 and the Guild of Medical Directors Award for Excellence in Medicine in 2000.
Ajayi's interest in touching the lives of couples who desire children is rare. No doubt, Ajayi has excelled in his area of specialisation. Through his outstanding contributions in clinical service delivery and the promotion of maternal health in Nigeria, he has taken his dream in medicine beyond that of his late father. He is definitely heading for the skies in fertility management.
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