Kehinde lost her brother, Idowu, to a car accident recently. The 26-year-old woman fought back tears as she struggled to recall the incident that claimed the life of her sibling.
“Idowu was a 34-year-old mechanical engineer. He had an accident just before Kobape in Abeokuta. Some civil defence officers took him to the Federal Medical Centre, but he died at the gate of the hospital,” she started.
“When I got to the hospital, the doctor told my mum that if he had got medical attention five minutes earlier, he wouldn’t have died. One of the civil defence officers who brought him to the hospital said if only the government had completed the hospital opposite the state secretariat, he would still be alive.”
The hospital Kehinde referred to is the 250-bed medical facility built by the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in the Oke Mosan area.
Painted in white, the modern hospital, with 10 ventilators, was over 80 per cent completed when Amosun left office.
Before the former governor handed over in 2019, ex-President Muhammadu Buhari visited the hospital to inspect the facility.
It was reliably gathered that his administration paid N5bn out of the about N7bn worth of the project, a gesture that motivated the contractors.
In December 2023, after confirming that the hospital was about 20 per cent away from completion at a statutory meeting of the State Council of Obas, held at the Oba’s Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, Governor Abiodun insisted that due to incapacitation, his government could not continue with the construction and running of the hospital.
Abiodun added that the state government had, however, concluded plans to concession the 250-bed hospital to Afrexim Bank and a medical group.
He reinforced his excuse with the running cost of the state-owned Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital.
“We realise that the state will not be able to run that hospital because, as it is, our tertiary hospital, OOUTH, costs the state almost N300m every month in salaries alone. We appreciate the fact that the state is not in a position to run that hospital the way it needs to be run. From what we have seen and done, if that hospital is properly run, medical tourism will be attracted to that hospital.
“So, the state has adopted a template that we will be the landlord owning that property, and others should come and take the concession of that property and run it professionally.
“Before the end of the year, we will sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Afrexim Bank and the medical group that has agreed to take over that hospital, complete and operationalise it professionally.”
But eight months after the governor’s promise, nothing different meets the eyes of the once beautiful building, which now stands a shadow of itself.
When our correspondent visited the hospital premises, bushes had taken over the compound of the facility. The white-painted building was already fading; the tell-tale signs of abandonment were evident, and everywhere looked dusty with ants breathing freely. The windows were dirty, showing signs of neglect.
To ascertain the level of medical equipment in the facility, this reporter went into the building after surmounting the hurdles of security men at the gate.
The visit to the facility showed that the supplier of the medical equipment had continued to keep routine checks on them.
Large numbers of medical and electrical equipment were seen lying fallow inside the hospital. The hospital also has an already completed oxygen plant designed to serve the facility, as well as for commercial purposes.
At the hospital, our correspondent observed 100KVA and 500 KVA generators, which had been installed. The same for washing machines and other medical equipment which was covered, while many had been partly installed.
A document obtained from the government showed that the hospital was designed to begin operations with a 60-bed Acute Surgical and Outpatient Centre with critical care capabilities delivered at the public and private healthcare levels.
One of the contractors, who spoke with our correspondence but refused to give his name so as not to break the contractual agreement with the government, said, “All equipment and materials needed for the start-up of the hospital have been supplied, including all medical equipment. In fact, the only equipment that’s not on site is the MRI machine, which has been procured and left at the company because MRI can’t be installed until it is ready for work. The contract for the MRI was cancelled last year since there’s no time on-site for the hospital to take off.
“We spend over N300,000 monthly on diesel to service and maintain the equipment in this hospital because we can’t leave the equipment unattended; it will just rot away if not vandalised.
“Yes, we only had about N2bn left during Amosun’s administration; it was the commitment of that administration that energised all contractors to get to where we are.”
The contractor further revealed that about five years ago, when Abiodun got into office, the company proposed to his administration the payment of N100m monthly to offset the balance of the N2bn for the hospital to kick start, but the advice was not taken. That was when the remaining balance was just N2bn,” the contractor added.
It was noted that the hospital also provides a surgical internship location for medical students of OOUTH and Schools of Nursing in the state. It provides a facility for premium private healthcare delivery and partnership with visiting regional and international medical teams in Ogun State.
Additionally, the document showed that the hospital is equipped with radiology diagnostic, laboratory, accident and emergency, maternal & childcare services, oncology and nephrology services, surgical services, and outpatient clinics.
Further findings revealed that there are four operating suites, each with its inverter as a backup to all other power sources, a 10-bed intensive care ward, a five-bed neonatal intensive care ward, and five delivery suites.
The outpatient services, accident and emergency room, four operating theatres, radiology, adult intensive care unit, laboratory, pharmacy and central sterile administration and services on the basement, and two floors are ready for commissioning.
The facility is also equipped with oxygen gas piped to every bed-head unit as part of the equipment procurement contract. The gas production plant has excess capacity, which will adequately provide a revenue stream with the commercialisation of excess gas from the plant.
But a source in the Ogun State Ministry of Health, who craved anonymity to avoid reprimand, said the hospital would now require about N10bn to run.
The source said, “When Amosun’s government was leaving office, the hospital still needed a balance of about N2bn, but owing to the neglect of the project by the present government, the variation has now jumped back to between N7bn and N10bn.”
Reacting, the spokesperson for the Caretaker Committee of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State, Afolabi Orekoya, regretted the situation of the hospital, saying residents were suffering from absence of good healthcare in the state.
Orekoya wondered what the governor’s priority had been if the hospital could be abandoned since 2019.
He said, “The 250-bed hospital if completed by Governor Dapo Abiodun would put Ogun State on the national map. By now, Ogun should be a destination for medical tourists seeking qualitative medical services.
“Why Gov Abiodun abandoned such a huge project for other less important ones like the cargo airport is still a mystery. The specialist hospital would have been a destination for people in dire need of healthcare facilities. So sad that a hospital equipped with over N7bn medical equipment remained underutilised under the watch of Governor Abiodun.
“My question is what exactly is the governor’s focus if a hospital that is beside the seat of power here in Abeokuta can continue to suffer this level of decay; what will happen to the ones in Yewa, Ogun waterside, and other extreme destinations in the state?”
The Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Tunde Oladunjoye, described the PDP’s claim against the governor as an attempt to launder his boss’ image after recent battering.
His words, “After his paymaster, Ladi Adebutu, has been dealt with by his running mate in the last election, Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, who described him as grossly incompetent child-man; and with the PDP Chairman, Hon. Sikirulai Ogundele, saying they lost the elections due to the arbitrariness of Adebutu, it is understandable that my brother, Orekoya, needs something to attempt to shore up the fallen image of his principal.
“He wants to use Governor Dapo Abiodun to be popular. I don’t have time for him. His comment, bearing all the present administration has done on abandoned and uncompleted projects, is, to say the least, unintelligent.”
Efforts to get the state Commissioner for Health, Tomi Coker, to speak on the matter were unsuccessful. Repeated calls put across to her for two weeks were neither picked up nor returned. Also, a text message sent to her was ignored.
When this reporter visited her office twice, she was not around.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information, Kayode Akinmade, said he was indisposed to answering questions at the time of filing the report.
The media aide whose father had died recently said, “I am currently in a family meeting; my father just died and I am preparing for that. As I speak I am in a family meeting.”
PUNCH
