The Kano State Ultra-Modern Specialist Hospital Board (KUSH), which supervises the operations of the Muhammadu Buhari Special Hospital in Giginyu area of Kano state, says the facility would be revived.
Daily News 24 reports that this revelation followed a report by Freedom Radio on how the hospital was shut down after a disagreement between the state government under former governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Northfield Health Service, the private partners that were involved to run the facility.
According to the report, the hospital has been taken over by weeds and cobwebs, while critical equipment were left to rot away.
It could be recalled that the multi-billion special hospital was completed and commissioned by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2017.
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The then state’s governor Mr Ganduje had procured modern medical equipment including an MRI scanning machine, which was the first in the state.
The Muhammadu Buhari Specialist Hospital (MBSH) had also successfully conducted a brain operation on a patient from Bauchi state before it was closed down.
But speaking on the status of the hospital, Dr Zayyad Faroug, Chairman of the KUSH board said in a statement that the facility was shut down due to a lawsuit against the state government.
“The previous government had given concession to a private healthcare company (Northfield Health Services), to run the hospital on a public private partnership basis but shortly thereafter, the government sacked the company and closed down the hospital ( for reasons we dont know).
“The company went to court and the hospital remained closed only to be briefly opened and used as a covid19 isolation center at the time of the covid pandemic.
“It had remained closed ever since.
“The new Goverment under the leadership of His Excellency Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf kick started the process of reopening the hospital and reconstituted the new board responsible for running the hospital (KUSH board).
“Upon assuming duty last month, the board assessed the situation and reached out to Northfield health services in order to hold a round table discussion with the view to reach an out of court settlement. Discussions are currently ongoing as at today.
“The executive governor and the honorable commissioner for health have given the board their full commitment and cooperation to ensure not only successful reopening of this Hospital, but also to re equip and renovate it along with all the health facilities in the state for the benefit of its people,” Mr Farouq said.
“The Hospital will be up and running in no time, but the ongoing litigation inherited from the previous government has to be nipped in the bud first,” he added in the statement.
