Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade says the state’s 140-bed ultra-modern specialist hospital which is at an advanced stage of completion in Obudu will be a reference point in Africa.
Governor Ayade who was in Obudu to inspect the progress of work at the ultra-modern hospital, said given the reputation of the partners involved, Siemens and Coscharis, it will no doubt be a touchstone in quality healthcare in Africa.
“This is Siemens hospital basically. Siemens is number one in hospital equipment. Even in American hospitals, they have more of Siemens equipment, so we are convinced that our MRI, CT scan, radiology, diagnostics and dialysis equipment will be world-class,” Ayade disclosed.
He said he was convinced the hospital would be a first-class hospital especially given that it will have its own oxygen plant to produce oxygen, even as he disclosed that the hospital would have “a special Covid unit, which will cater to Covid-19 patients in a special way with oxygen fully generated from within the system.”
The hospital is also fitted with a solar power system to guarantee 24-hour power supply, thus not being dependent on the national grid.
On the hospital’s bed capacity, the governor quipped: “We have a total of 120 beds, plus an additional 20 for those who are going into the recovery phase. So we are going to have a total of 140 beds hospital. Massive!
“So I am very excited this hospital will be the reference hospital for Africa, not just Nigeria. Before we took this design, we had studied all the hospitals in Nigeria in terms of all the critical equipments, even in Abuja, both public and private hospitals. We are convinced that the level of sophistication will be unmatched.
“Our dispensary unit has an outdoor station, you drive through, sit in your car and a robot delivers your drugs to you. You swipe your card, get your drugs and you are gone without any human interference. The human element is our secondary phase, should the robotic services fail you.
“We also have a partnership with a German firm for drug revolving programme and also with Canadian team to support us with drugs. Of course, Cross River State has a pharmaceutical company. So we will also be producing drugs as a state. The hospital will also buy drugs from the Calapharm. I think the circle is completely proper and the social benefit is unquantifiable, it’s a thing of joy for me.”
On staffing, the governor disclosed that a team would be sent to Germany for massive training, six months to commissioning.
“We have a lot of Cross River doctors who will be sent to Germany for training to come back here because this is actually Cross-German hospital, a partnership between Cross River State government and Siemens under the catalysis of Coscharis. Our excitement is actually bringing the best hospital in Africa to Obudu.”
Ayade gave reasons why the hospital is sited in Obudu.
According to him, “this is an axis that is lacking in terms of medical care. Abuja is quite extremely out there, Lagos is far out there. And because we are building an international airport here and because Obudu Ranch Resort is a tourist attraction, we have high level, high profile citizens who will be coming on tourism here. The British Canadian University will be taking very elitist students, so we would not want any challenges. We will need a hospital that can provide for these primary footfalls that will serve as the initial base of patronage. I see Benue, Ebonyi, Cross River and some of the South South states coming here because of the sophisticated level of equipment we will have here.”