Aisha Buhari Launches N15bn Naval Officers’ Wives Hospital In Abuja

 

 

Yesterday, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the First Lady, had laid the foundation stone for a 200-bed Children and Women’s Hospital that is estimated to cost N15 billion.

Situated on a 2.1-hectare plot at Plot 345, Galadimawa District, Abuja, the hospital project aims to address a variety of health challenges, including respiratory disorders, chronic diseases, eye complications, and genitourinary diseases.

At the ceremony in Abuja, Mrs. Buhari said the hospital will cater to the health care needs of women and children in Nigeria when finished. Specifically, she said the statistics regarding the health care needs of women and children call for urgent action.

“Nigeria grapples with a growing population amid dwindling resources to revamp health care need in Nigeria. This project is key to Mr. president’s desire to ensure that every Nigerian especially women and children in the face of dwindling resources.”

 

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Mrs. Buhari, who was being represented by Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, the Wife of the Vice President, had disclosed that she would ensure that the project was delivered before the end of the Buhari-led administration next year.

“The federal government will continue to intervene to ensure quality health delivery which it has demonstrated with the revitalisation of primary health centre in the country.”

Hajiya Nana Aisha Gambo, the Wife of the Chief of the Naval Staff, said because of the high maternal mortality rate in the country, the naval officers’ spouses were opposed to the idea of the hospital.

She stated that Nigeria contributed ten percent of global maternal deaths, which would translate into a maternal mortality rate of 576 deaths per 100,000 live births, the fourth highest in the world.

“Indeed, the uncomfortable state of health of a reasonable population of Nigerian women and children are known to all of us. In fact, the recent UNICEF statistics gives a good account of this assertion. Sadly, it further suggests that about 262,000 babies die at birth in Nigeria annually, which is the second highest national figure in the world. Because we are involved, it is not surprising that we are losing our women and children daily due to inadequate medical care and particularly insufficient mother and child hospitals.”