Nasarawa Earmarks N6bn For Upgrade of New Specialist  Hospital 

Igbawase Ukumba in lafia 

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has signed into law the bill establishing the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH), Akwanga passed recently by the State House of Assembly.

When signing the bill, the governor disclosed that the state government has earmarked the sum of N6bn for the upgrade of facilities at the newly establishesd specialist hospital to meet up with the standards of tertiary health institutions found in other senatorial zones of the state.

The governor made the disclosure while signing the bill at the Government House, Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, Wednesday .

Sule added that the funding came from resources received from the World Bank, which identified Nasarawa State for its ease of doing business.

He said: “We were able to have N17bn given to us. Out of this N17bn, we are keeping aside about N6bn to be given immediately to this DASH Akwanga so that it can be upgraded to the level of a tertiary healthcare facility both in Lafia and in Keffi.”

He, however, explained that the decision to establish the DASH Akwanga was informed by the commitment to ensuring that every senatorial zone of the state has a tertiary health facility that would respond to critical health needs of the people. 

“As you are aware, the erstwhile DASH in Lafia was donated to the Federal Government to serve as the teaching hospital for the Federal University of Lafia. 

“This informed the decision of government to establish a similar  tertiary health institution in Akwanga bearing the same name considering that the hospital was named after the late Dr. Dalhatu Araf in order to immortalize him in view of his enormous contributions to healthcare development not only in Nasarawa but also in Plateau State,” the governor maintained.