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Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
History was made in Abuja when the Ondo State government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a German outfit, Medicus International, to establish Sunshine Medical City worth $1.1 billion.
Signing the agreement at the Ondo State Governor’s Lodge, the governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, assured that the state government was already on the verge of securing 100 hectares of land close to the airport for the project.
The Mou was signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Ifedayo Abegunde, while the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medicus International, Frank Spriewald signed on behalf of the company.
Approving the project, the governor said that while he was in Germany negotiating to attract medical project, he did not know that one was at home already waiting for him.
“I am more than convinced that Medicus has good intentions. And as I told them when they came, coincidentally, about few weeks ago, I was in Germany; and I saw their structure. When I was in Berlin, I was talking to another medical organisation to bring their facility to Ondo State. I was negotiating with them not knowing that someone else was already waiting for this
“No doubt, we are interested in this. We have made efforts. We are already working on how to secure a land very close to the airport. It is an interesting thing.
“We are prepared to cooperate and we know that this sort of thing is to be done with a joint venture. The interest of Ondo State is there. We are putting land. The joint venture itself will come up.
“You know that anything that has to do with government, but I can give you assurance that I have spoken with my SA on Land and he has started looking for a land not too far from the airport. We will give you land very near to the airport,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the governor’s SA on Health, Dr Jibayor Adeyeye, revealed that the project would not come at any cost to the state government.
“What I need to add to what has been said is that Medicus International is going to be charged with the responsibility of sourcing for funds to execute the project. They are not asking the state government for any fund.
“The project is estimated to cost about $1.1 billion. All they are requesting from us is 100 hectares of land which we have promised to deliver to Medicus International in good time,” he said.
The facilitator of the project, Oludare Bello, said: “I want to appreciate the governor for his interest in setting up Sunshine Medical City in Akure, Ondo State. The time of execution of this project is 36 months when the first operation will commence, however, the project is going to be completed in 48 months.
“It is a specialised hospital that will carter for all facets of healthcare. We will ensure that it is likely going to be close to the airport in Akure because the hospital is going to have its helicopter to evacuate people from time to time. It is not going to be limited to Akure alone, it is going to be serving other states that will visit the hospital and get medication.
“It is not going to be like the normal hospital because there is going to be other facilities like conference halls, cinema halls, teaching hospital, technical school that can handle all the medical equipment for the hospital; there will also, be a recuperating centre where people can walk around.
“It is going to be one of a kind in Nigeria. We are going to have 50 per cent of the doctors already trained in Germany. The Nigerian doctors that will participate there will have to take the medical examination in Germany. They will be specially trained there maybe for six months.
“They will have to sign a bond so that after that kind of training, they will have to give us a good number of training before they can move on. These are some of the advantages of the hospital,” he said.
