- Hospital will be fully operational once we get directive – State House official
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Chief of State to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila has described N21 billion State House Hospital (Presidential Wing), as impressive and comparable to any hospital in the world.
The Chief of Staff gave this verdict after he embarked on a guided tour of the state-of-the-art facility on Monday.
The hospital, an extension of the existing medical centre, located inside the presidential villa in Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was build by the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, commissioned eight days to the end of his tenure.
The project commenced in November 2021 after a groundbreaking ceremony performed by then Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari
Spanning an impressive total floor area of 2,485 square meter on a suspended floor with a basement, the hospital, which serves as a specialized Intensive Care Centre, caters for the President, Vice President, their immediate families and VIPs; incorporates state-of-the-art medical technology.
The Presidential/VIP Wing also houses several specialized departments, are to be staffed by a team of medical professionals, featuring five consultation rooms dedicated to various specialties, including respiratory, cardiology, ophthalmology, ENT, and general consultation.
The hospital has a specialized X-ray suite equipped with a digital X-ray machine as well as a diagnostic suite encompassing MRI, CT scan, and endoscopy facilities.
There is also a Healing Garden for patients, designed to foster healing, relaxation, and enhancement of overall well-being.
Speaking to newsmen after the tour, Gbajabiamila said: “First of all, like you rightly said, there’s been a lot of talk about this clinic, not just today, even when I was in the National Assembly as Speaker and so I thought, having been here a few months, let’s have a look and see exactly what is going on.
“I have seen, I am very impressed and I’m sure you are as well because you went around with me. This is a clinic like anywhere in the world, you will find, the standard is very high. The equipment is of world class. From my understanding, there’s some equipment that you wouldn’t even find in too many places all over the world.
“So as far as clinics go, in terms of equipment, in terms of what they can do, in terms of, I mean, I’ve just been lectured about kidney transplant now from one
of the best. There’s a Cath. Lab. that’s world class and so many other things. There’s an equipment they called C-ARM, this gladdens my heart that at least when we were appropriating money in the House of Representatives as Speaker, I can see where the money has gone to.
“So it’s for them to dot the I’s and cross the T’s and put finishing touches and I think we’ll be proud to say that we have a clinic of international standard like this one.”
Chairman, Clinical Services, State House, Dr Jane Ifechukwu, also speaking on dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s and when the hospital will fully be in use said: “Right now, the last administration stopped, everything is in place, but they wanted this administration to drive the process that was the language. We’ve carried our principals along, it’s for them to give us a go-ahead. What we have here is skeletal, just the way we were having the Villa Clinic. That’s what we do here.
“But once we dot the I’s, we can’t take decisions on our own, they give us the go-ahead and we are good to go.”
Asked when the exactly the hospital will be in use especially for those that go on medical tourism abroad, Ifechukwu said: “We actually discourage that and I can’t speak now, I am waiting for our principals, our bosses, to do that and then the Permanent Secretary will give us a directive and then we can do it.”