The Federal Government has announced that it will be upgrading the 22 teaching hospitals in the country as well as constructing a 500-bed state-of-the-art Specialist Hospital, in Abuja through the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
According to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the announcement was made by Mr Patrick Ederaro, Acting Head, Media and Publicity, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) on Saturday, in Abuja.
Ederaro said there will not be a full concession of any of the entire existing teaching hospitals, so there will be no job losses. However, the new state-of-the-art 500-bed Federal Centre of Medical Excellence, in Abuja, would be the only full concession, where the concessionaire would be responsible for all medical services.
“There will be concessions on and of specific services, for medical equipment supplied like Dialysis Unit, Imaging Unit, Diagnostic Services and other departments mentioned above.
“The concessionaire will finance the supply and maintenance of world class dialysis units and perform to very high output specifications and contracted key performance indicators.”
He also said the medical services in the hospitals would be run by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) and other staff alongside the support of the private concessionaire.
While speaking, Ederaro said the upgrade would be in two phases like the 2003 upgrade of 14 teaching hospitals.
Ederaro said that the first and second phases were procured using traditional public procurement methodology, adding that the President, thereafter, approved the new phase to be implemented through PPP procurement methodology.
However, the upgrading project will address the gaps in the teaching hospitals, towards providing better quality healthcare delivery across the country.
