By Albert Akota
A multi-billion naira advanced medical diagnostic centre built by the Sokoto State Government has been completed and ready for commissioning.
The Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, will commission the centre on Wednesday. He will be assisted by Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, other government dignitaries and officials of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).
Governor Okowa, who is a medical doctor, is visiting Sokoto to take part in a meeting of the NMA holding in the state.
The Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr Mohammad Ali Inname, who disclosed this in a press statement on Monday in Sokoto, said the facility is world-class and a milestone in the history of medical diagnosis in Nigeria.
The facility, with state-of-the art medical equipment, has a Radiology Unit, Laboratory Unit, Out-patient Clinics, Dental Unit, and ENT Unit. It will offer a variety of services, including Medical Investigations, Radiological Investigations, and Laboratory Investigations.
It has provision for ECG, Stress ECG, Echocardiography, and Vascular Doppler, Gastrology, Endoscopy, Neurology, and EEG.
It also has extensive capacity for MRI, CT scan, Fluoroscopy, Digital X-ray, Mammography, Chemical Pathology, Histopathology, Microbiology, and Hematology.
Already, medical consultants, medical officers, laboratory scientists/technicians, nurses and other personnel required for the smooth running of the centre are being hired.
For efficiency, the centre will be managed by Healthfield Medical Services Ltd, through a public-private partnership model.
The project was executed for approximately N3.2billion, with about N824million spent on construction and N2.4billion expended on equipping the centre. Katuru & Partners Limited handled construction while Minjiriya Medical Services Limited executed the supply and installation of diagnostic equipment.
Dr Inname said the centre will provide high-quality cutting edge medical diagnostics services for the people of Sokoto, other Nigerians and nationals of neighbouring countries.
“A staggering number of Nigerians seek healthcare services abroad, it has been reported that 5,000 Nigerians travel overseas for medical treatment monthly, with an estimated bill of over $1 billion annually. This has been as a result of non-availability of advanced healthcare technology in our health facilities,” Dr Inname said.
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