The Dietetics Department OAUTHC is under the Clinical Services Unit of the Hospital. The Department started in 1981 under Dr. (Mrs.) I.F. Smith, a Consultant Nutritionist/Dietitian of the Department of Community Health and Nutrition, Obafemi Awolowo University. At inception, the Department had one Registered Dietitian, two Dietetics assistants and two Cooks, trained to prepare various therapeutic Diets for inpatients.

The Dietetics Unit at Wesley Guild Hospital started operation in 1990 with just four Cooks and a Registered Dietitian.

• Provide adequate nutritional support in the Management of Hospitalized Patients.
• Provide nutrition Education Services at the Hospital and Community levels.

To collaborate with other Health Care Professionals to achieve better Healthcare delivery.

• Maintenance of adequate nutrition for patients
• Modification of normal diets to meet the nutritional needs of different disease conditions.
• Nutritional counseling of in and out patients
• Participation in current research studies with Physicians and others on the effect of different diets on the prognosis of disease states.
• Training of students/internees.
• Providing consultancy services to members of the public and media houses.

Presently, the institution has Nine (9) Registered Dietitians for both WGH, Ilesa and IHU. Ile-Ife Units of the hospital. Dietitians in the department interpret dietary prescriptions from physicians and make dietary modification for different disease conditions. The prescribed diet is to accomplish one or more aims such as maintain normal nutrition, correct nutritional deficiency and change body weight, permit maximum rest to the body or an organ in the body, etc. The normal hospital diet is modified to suit individual patients needs.

The department has a total number of ten (9) Registered Dietitians of different ranks to cover various unit both at Ilesa and Ile-Ife. There are:

1. Deputy Director (2)
2. Assistant Chief Director (7)
3. Dietetics Interns (25)

Each Registered Dietitian has his/her daily schedule in the department.

There are Twenty-Nine (29) Health Attendant to the department and they do shift duty to prepare different meals for patients on admission according to their prescribed diets under the supervision of the Registered Dietitians.

Dietitians in the department go on ward round to counsel referred patients based on their disease condition, Nutritional diagnosis food likes dislikes and life style and design a diet to meet individual patient’s needs. The Registered Dietitians also supervise the menu preparation for in-patients.

Patient’s dietary fee is charged according to the Management regulation.

The average number of therapeutic diets served to patients in Ife Hospital Unit stand at One Hundred and One Eight(108,000) which was served to over One Hundred patients, while about Thirty Seven Thousand Eight Hundred (37,800) therapeutic meals were served in WGH.

The Department runs a dietetic clinic where patients are counseled on daily basis when referred by the physicians from various units such as Medicine, Peadiatrics, O & G, and Surgery. Registered Dietitians also take part in the running of IHVN clinic where people living with HIV and AIDS as well as exposed infants are given adequate dietary/Nutritional counseling for them to live a healthy life.

The Dietetics Internship Programme is a one year programme in which graduates of Nutrition and Dietetics from recognized and accredited Universities are trained. The training involves rotations in various units of the department under the supervision of Registered Dietitians. The interns will cover various clinical units such as Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Peadiatric and Surgery.

They are also trained in the Science of managing clients/patients using diet therapy.