Gbajabiamila tours State House Hospital’s Presidential Wing, says it’s global standard
The Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, on Monday, December 11, toured the new Presidential Wing of the State House Hospital and expressed his satisfaction with the role that the House of Representatives, which he chaired, played in the construction process.
The N21 billion facility was constructed by the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which was the period Gbajabiamila was speaker of the House of Representatives.
However, after being taken through a guided tour of the hospital, which is located within the perimeters of the State House, Abuja, Gbajabiamila said he had seen the facility with all the state-of-the-art equipment it is fitted with and attested that it compares with any standard hospital globally.
The Chief of Staff, who spoke to journalists after the tour, highlighted the advanced medical equipment, including a Cath Lab and a unique C-ARM.
He expressed contentment that the funds allocated during his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives had been effectively utilized.
He 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 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.”
The chairman of Clinical Services at the State House, Dr. Jane Ifechukwu, who led the guided tour, clarified that the facility’s current status is skeletal, awaiting approval to operationalize.
She explained: “What we have here is skeletal, just the way we were having the Villa Clinic. 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.”
When asked about the timeline for the facility’s full utilization, Dr. Ifechukwu indicated that decisions were pending approval from higher authorities.
She said: “We actually discourage medical tourism, 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.”
