The ongoing rebuilding of the Ilorin General Hospital would be completed in February, 2013 just as the Kwara State Government disclosed that it has committed over N1billion on the project.

When completed, the medical centre is expected to render secondary healthcare services to the people of the state.

In seperate interviews with The Herald in Ilorin, the state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Abdul Kayode Issa, and contractor handling the project, Engr. Nelson Oladimeji, re-affirmed the government commitment to making the hospital an ultra modern healthcare centre.

The commissioner said the government acquired the site shortly after the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital relocated to its permanent site and commenced a monumental renovation and reconstruction on the hospital that would be providing a wide range of healthcare services to the people.

He explained that the medical institution would be equipped with modern facilities to make it respond to contemporary health challenges, adding that the facility would have an amenity centre that would be a three star hotel standard.
He disclosed that the project cost government over N1billion, promising that it would be commissioned before the end of first quarter of the year.
"If you look at it, you will see the central location of the hospital, and our people have been using it to get healthcare services. It is going to render a variety of secondary healthcare services.

"The concept is to make it an ultra modern general hospital. We are going to have an amenity centre which is going to be of a three star hotel standard, and will serve our people.

"Other structures in the hospital are a chalet, hotel and shops that would be able to serve people visiting the hospital", the commissioner stated.

He said the ongoing renovation would also be extended to other local government areas.

The commissioner stated that government would construct general hospitals in three local governments, including Moro and Ekiti.

Also speaking, the Proprietor of Henry George Company Limited, Engr. Nelson Oladimeji, said the level of work done stands at 70 per cent completion and noted that the construction firm was working in line with the contractual terms.

He stated that his company was fully mobilized, promising that the project would be completed by the end of February.

He said, "As at now, the level of completion is about 70 per cent to be precise. We have just 30 per cent more to go, which is the finishing.

"Our main challenge is that most of the structures in the hospital are very old, and we never envisaged that they are as old as what we met on the site. When we commenced renovation, we detected that a lot of structures are very weak and that even in the course of doing the renovation, some of the structures were falling off on their own.

"This therefore called for re-designing of some of these structures to make it to be able to bear the load. And in accordance with the terms of contract, we were fully mobilized and we don't have any problem", Oladimeji said.

"Right now, I might not be able to quote that off hand", he stated when asked of how much has been spent so far on the project.

"Because as the project is progressing, we are facing a lot of challenges like I said. We work strictly by the bill, but there are some areas where the bill does not work.

"So in an area where you don't envisage that you are going to introduce columns and beams, and we find out that we cannot do the work without columns and beams, we have to call the attention of consultant to look at it, which by extension, calls for cost implication.

"We would have commissioned the project by now, but like I said there are just some challenges. First, we went through the hardship of rain. We were doing the project during the raining season and this rain has brought a lot of setbacks.

"Again, virtually all the structures are old. There are some areas where we had to almost bring down the whole building and of course when you are doing this, we need more time to do the reconstruction, and now that the project is still ongoing, if I tell you precisely that this project would be completed in the next five or ten days, and we encounter some problems along the line, it might still call for extension.

"But as we have assessed it, we are putting our mind that probably by end of February 2013, we should be able to deliver the project", the contractor said.
On an assessment visit by our reporter, the once dilapidated structure is wearing a new look with modern architectural designs perceived in all the buildings on the premises, and thus giving an impression that the place would soon see the influx of people coming for one medical problem or the other.

However, The Herald gathered that the facility would also be housing the teaching hospital of the state university when the college of medicine is eventually established in the school.