Idowu Abdullahi
Healthcare delivery in Lagos State on Tuesday received a major boost as the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, handed over an 80-bed hospital to the state government.
The Femi Gbajabiamila General Hospital with paediatrics unit and a dialysis centre is located in the Surulere area of the state.
The hospital is equipped with a 300 KVA generator, a 100KVA solar generator as well as a borehole and water filtration system.
Speaking at the inauguration of the four-storey hospital, Gbajabiamila, who spent 20 years in the House of Representatives, said the project was just one of the many he had completed in the state to augment the efforts of the state government.
“The Femi Gbajabiamila General Hospital was conceived from the knowledge that a populous and growing metropolis such as Lagos cannot afford to be found wanting so far as access to quality health care is concerned.
“This structure is an addition to support the tremendous work the Lagos State government is doing in the area of healthcare access,” the former Speaker of the House said.
He added, “I am proud that we have constructed over 250 roads in selected federal constituencies in the state especially Surulere 1 and 2 constituencies and completed 15 mini stadia.
“We facilitated heavy investment in education and health care, including constructing and equipping over 20 ICT centres in public schools where children are taught computer programming and coding.
” We have provided a solar energy system to light up neighbourhoods and support commercial trades in our constituencies,” he added.
In his remarks, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, commended the President’s chief of staff for making the state proud and complementing the efforts of the state government.
Sanwo-Olu announced that the state had set in motion plans to establish a medical university before the end of the year.
The governor promised that the proposed medical university would be well-equipped and would not only train but retain the best minds so that they would not be tempted to leave the country in search of greener pastures.
“The Lagos State Government will in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the NUC another university that will be called the Lagos State Medical University before the end of this year,” he said, adding that the state government aims to ensure that at least 1,500 doctors graduate from the proposed school yearly.
“This will also stem the trend of medical personnel leaving our country. We are not going to stop at ensuring that we provide the best facilities that will be able to retain our best talents here,” Sanwo-Olu added.
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