Kwara Approves Teaching Hospital For Varsity, Others

Kwara State Executive Council has approved the setting up of a teaching hospital to support the training of medical students and related professionals by the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete.

The government intends to upgrade facilities at the General Hospital Ilorin (GHI) for the purpose as well as legislations to guide its operations.

The state commissioner for Health, Dr Amina El-Imam disclosed this at a news conference in Ilorin, the state capital yesterday.

She said the council observed that recent facility upgrades under the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration had earlier qualified GHI as a postgraduate training health institution and went ahead to approve additional N906.7 million seed fund to push through the transition to a teaching hospital.

“The proposed seed fund will meet cost of infrastructural facelift and construction of new ones, equipment upgrades, administrative changes, and address manpower needs to support training of medical students, which is complementary to the ongoing postgraduate training,” El-Imam said.

She said the council approved for the government to present a bill on “establishment of the Kwara State Teaching Hospital and related matters” to the House of Assembly.

The council also approved the award of redesigning and wholesale rebuilding of the iconic Kwara Hotel to Craneburg Construction Company Limited to a five-star hospitality facility for a duration of 24 months.

This is just as the State Ministry of Works and Transport announced the immediate reconstruction works on the Wahab Folawiyo (Unity Road) in Ilorin, the state capital, following the state executive council’s approval of the overhauling of the major artery road that empties into downtown Ilorin.

The coordinating commissioner for Works and Transport, AbdulQuawiy Olododo, said that phased works on the road, such as asphalt milling, will begin from next week with minimal drags on vehicular traffic at every stage of the work.

“The contractor will complete work on one lane before working on the other to reduce traffic gridlock,” Olododo added.