The Adamawa State government has entered into a partnership with Infrastructure Bank for a comprehensive upgrade of the Yola Specialist Hospital.
The funding for the upgrade would be provided by the bank while the state would provide the political and administrative support, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Fatima Abubakar, has said.
In a statement released by the commissioner, she explained that the government was not privatising the hospital. “It remains a wholly owned public establishment with full governmental control,’’ she emphasised.
The commissioner said that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was intended to positively position the hospital to meet the tertiary health needs of the people.
The upgrade, she explained, would entail the comprehensive rehabilitation of the interior and exterior of the buildings within the hospital compound.
It would include “substantial increase in the number of operating theatres, laboratories and associated facilities’’.
The exercise would also involve the provision of specialist hospital equipment, and integrated modern information and communication technology in line with global best practices.
It would include infrastructure upgrade – roads, storm-water drainage, power and water supply – as well as comprehensive sewage disposal system.
“Renovation and reconfiguration of existing but dilapidated senior, intermediate and junior staff quarters within the hospital premises to house better trained and qualified medical professionals that are expected to operate the proposed ultramodern equipment,” she said.
The state House of Assembly, she explained, recently passed a bill that would give legal backing to the partnership.
The upgrade would be completed within 12 months.
“On completion, the rehabilitation is expected to deliver a hospital that will be a referral centre of excellence to other health institutions in the state as well as in the North-east.’’(NAN)
