Date: 2012-02-22

The Kwara State Government is to spend the sum of N1.6billion to rehabilitate and upgrade five hospitals across the three senatorial zones of the State in to general hospitals.

This was made known yesterday in Ilorin by the executive governor of the State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed during the formal flag off of the exercise at the old University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).

According to the Governor, the UITH and General Hospitals in Share, Omu-Aran, Offa and Kaiama have been earmarked for phase one of the rehabilitation with completion periods of 24 weeks for the UITH and six months for the four General Hospitals respectively. The UITH rehabilitation is expected to cost N900million in view of the mass population of people in Ilorin, the State capital.

Speaking further, Governor Ahmed said "with the relocation of UITH to its permanent site at Oke-Ose, it became necessary to rehabilitate and convert the hospital back to a first class status to enhance accessible and qualitative healthcare services in the State."

Alhaji Ahmed disclosed further that in the next three years, nine additional General Hospitals would also be rehabilitated, while three new ones would be constructed to ensure that qualitative health care is made available to the people within a 500 metre radius.

According to him, the Primary Health care would be strengthened with additional construction of 20 Comprehensive Health Centres which are expected to be serviced by the Secondary Health Centres such as the General Hospitals.

The Governor, who announced the formal take-over of the old UITH by the State Government and its subsequent rename as the Ilorin General Hospital, lamented that until the hospital was taken over by the UITH, it was the best health facility in the State.

Earlier, the State Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Kayode Issa, had congratulated the governor for giving priority attention to qualitative health care services and commended him for recruiting more medical doctors and health personnel in the State.

The State, he said, is expanding its coverage in the areas of community based health Insurance Scheme, Malaria, HIV/AIDS control, noting that in the last three years, the State had not recorded any case of polio virus.