VP Shettima Commission’s KIU Teaching Hospital
Bodunrin Kayode
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima today commissioned the ultra modern Kashim Ibrahim State University Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri.
The 400-bed Kashim Ibrahim University Teaching Hospital is a comprehensive healthcare facility which would be used for training of different cadre of professionals for the teeming population of the state.
The institution also compromises of 13 medical specialist departments, including diagnostic, medical, surgical, emergency, pediatric, internal medicine, physiotherapy, radiology among others.
The facility also has a Medical College complex, a students’ hostel, a 200-unit staff quarters and an oxygen plant complex to sustain services in the entire edifice.
The facility equally has modern diagnostic equipment, including a sophisticated 1.5-tesla MRI scanner, a 160-slice CT scanner, three conventional and two mobile X-ray machines, three 4D ultrasound machines, a fluoroscopy system for real-time imaging and a digital mammography machine.
In his speech the Governor stressed that the investment will reduce medical tourism drastically by bringing advanced diagnosis and specialist care closer home for Borno residents, north east Nigerian communities and foreign residents across Lake Chad, while also strengthening training for medical students and health professionals.
He noted that beyond providing medical care, the teaching hospital will address the healthcare manpower shortage by training medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and allied health workers for Borno State and the North East region of Nigeria.
New schools commissioned by Kashim
In addition to the hospital, the Vice President commissioned the Yerwa Practice Mega Primary School, constructed by the Zulum administration, and another mega primary school delivered under the Kashim Shettima Free Education Programme, the Vice President’s pet project that provides free education to orphans and vulnerable children.
While commissioning it, the Vice President commended Governor Babagana Zulum for his support for the education sector, describing the project as one that could stand the test of time.
“We shall be judged by what survives our time in office, the offices we held, the aides who surrounded us, and the length of our convoys will have surrendered their importance.
“What will endure are the institutions we built, the roads we built and the lives we improved through service. That is the meaning of our gathering here in Maiduguri. That is why this occasion brings me such joy.
“According to Carl Sagan’s law of insignificance, 100 years from now, everyone you know or who knows you will be out of this world.
“This is why I do not doubt the vision of His Excellency Professor Babagana Umara Zulum; his passion for healthcare and education is expressed in the institution before us.”
“The ultra-modern Kashim Ibrahim University Teaching Hospital and the schools that dotted our landscape in Maiduguri and across the state gives substance to his belief that Borno recovery must reach the patient awaiting treatment and the child sitting in a place in the classroom.” Said Kashim.
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