Nigerian govt considers extending concession of Garki hospital

The federal government has expressed willingness to further partner with NISA Premier Hospital on the management of Garki General Hospital, valued at about N361.1 billion, for continued sustainable and efficient healthcare delivery.

The acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, Chidi Izuwah, made this known on Thursday in Abuja during a Monitoring and Supervision visit by the ICRC Management team to Garki Hospital.

He recalled that Garki General Hospital was concessioned for 15 years to Nisa Premier Hospital in 2007, following the approval by the Federal Executive Council. He said that before then, the hospital had been closed for six years and lacked basic healthcare infrastructure.

He commended the management of Nisa Premier for transforming the general hospital into a world class hospital in under 10 years.

“ICRC is concerned about the infrastructure development of Nigeria, so any initiative using the Public-Private Partnership model, we will support in the interest of Nigeria.

“We are aware that efforts have been made by the PPP manager of Garki Hospital in terms of facelift, provision of hospital utilities and equipment, recruitment of qualified doctors and nurses to ensure that this serves as a model for hospital PPP in Nigeria.

“We are here therefore to further encourage you to do more, because we believe you can do more.

“We want you to convince us that there is justification for government to further partner with Nisa Premier upon the expiration of the current concession agreement,’’ he said.

Earlier, the founder, Nisa Premier, Ibrahim Wada, urged the government to extend the concession agreement for the management of Garki General Hospital to sustain and improve present achievements in efficient healthcare delivery.

Giving reasons for this demand, Mr. Wada, who is also the Vice Chairman, Garki Hospital, said that from 2007 till date, Nisa Premier had invested N4.63 billion in modern medical equipment and repairs of Garki Hospital.

“The huge investment we have made, has also increased our debt profile which currently stands at N800 million. These long term investments need time for us to recoup investment and make profit.

“It is our grave concern that the remaining term of the concession will not be enough for us to take benefit from our investments.

“Conscious of the fact that the term of the concession would lapse in four years and bearing in mind the provision of Article 19:13 of the Concession Agreement, we must respectfully seek a review of the concession beyond 2022,’’ he said.

Mr. Wada said that if the concession agreement was extended, Nisa Premier is ready to invest another N100 billion over the next 30 years, to transform Garki Hospital into an international hospital.

He said over the last 10 years, Garki Hospital has broken new grounds in healthcare delivery in the Federal Capital Territory.

Since the concessioning of the hospital, a fully equipped neurosurgery department, sickle cell clinic, in-vitro fertilisation clinic has been introduced.

So far, 25 kidney transplant surgeries and 43 open heart surgeries have been successfully conducted while the IVF clinic has recorded hundreds of births.

(NAN)