President Muhammdu Buhari flagged off the planned $300 million African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) to be built in Abuja in collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). Other partners of the project are King’s College Hospital, United Kingdom; University of Wisconsin Teaching Hospital, the United States and Christie's Hospital, Manchester. The President who attended the flag-off ceremony virtually said the AMCE has a 500-bed capacity and would provide patients services in cardiology, oncology and haematology.
President Buhari said, “Cardiovascular ailments, cancers and haematological disorders have increasingly become matters of concern to public healthcare. The World Health Organisation (WHO) projects that deaths on the African continent attributed to cancer and diabetes are expected to rise over the next 10 years.
“The rising Non-Communicable Disease burden coupled with inadequate medical infrastructure on the continent threatens the future of our people. Right now, many hospitals in the West African region are underfunded, underequipped, understaffed and relatively inaccessible to most patients especially from rural areas.”
According to the President, the centre would also provide educational services to develop skills and become a world-class research centre.
He said, “The success of the AMCE will pave the way for future investments and partnerships in the sector while raising the local standard of healthcare and providing a blueprint for quality of services required to address Nigeria’s and Africa’s healthcare and economic challenges.
“The AMCE represents a return to fundamentals and the understanding that there is no African development agenda without able-bodied Africans to execute our vision of transformation.”
President Buhari also commended the efforts of the Ministers of Health, Federal Capital Territory, Foreign Affairs and, Industry, Trade and Investment in the project’s implementation.
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