THE 15-year concession agreement between the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Nisa Medical Group over the management of Garki General Hospital has elapsed.
Nisa Medical Group, owners of Nisa Premier Hospital, managed Garki Hospital, a government health facility, during the period the concession agreement lasted.
The agreement terminated on March 31 and as a result, the ownership and administration of Garki Hospital has been restored to the FCTA.
READ ALSO:
How N91m intervention project to FMC Owerri is easing viral diseases burden
Four doctors to 10,000 population, Nigeria’s highest in two decades – Data
Train attack: Multiple insecurity incidents plague Kaduna in March
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Muhammad Bello said in a statement signed by the FCTA’s Chief Press Secretary Anthony Ogunleye that notwithstanding the termination of agreement, there would be no interruption of services at the hospital.
He refuted claims that the government would shut down the facility or disengage its workers.
Bello gave the assurance when he received leaders of the FCT branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), led by its Chairman Enema Job Amodu, in his office.
“The FCT Administration is not terminating the Garki District Hospital Concession. Even our distinguished Chairman here said ‘terminate’, but it’s not so. The situation is that an agreement was entered 15 years ago and mutually accepted by the FCT Administration and the Nisa Medical Group. It was an agreement with a commencement date and an expiration date.
“So, by virtue of the agreement, it is supposed to expire on Thursday, March 31, 2022, a natural termination. So, it’s not the FCT terminating the agreement. That’s what we need to understand”.
He, however, did not foreclose the possibility of renewing the agreement with Nisa Medical Group.
The minister said the FCTA had run some of its institutions on public-private partnership (PPP) in addition to the hospital.
He said some critical departments of FCTA’s hospitals would run on PPP.
According to the minister, it is the government’s responsibility to provide health care to the people. Shutting down the hospital would go contrary to that responsibility, he stated.
He assured that all medical professionals working or training at the hospital who wished to remain were free to do so.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].