I am angry and happy at the same time, angry because it has taken so long for a rich country like Naija to come up with such a project and happy that it is finally the case!


Bill Gates, Eminent Nigerians Plan $400m Hospital Project

By Philip Ogunmade, 11.10.2006


A Nigerian medical doctor, Godwin Onyema, in conjunction with Bill Gates Foundation, is proposing a world-class hospital that will provide answers to many of Nigeria's medical questions in Anambra State.
To be named Augustine Memorial Hospital, the project will gulp $400 million.
Already, the project has secured the support of Bill Gates Foundation and several other foreign institutions such as the Harvard, Princeton and Stanford universities, Ernst and Young and Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Rowe & Maw LLP.
Govenment of Anambra State has donated 200 acres of land for the take-off of the project, while notable Nigerians such as chairman of Diamond Bank, Mr Pascal Dozie, founder of Emzor Pharmaceuticals, Mrs Stella Okoli, former presidential aspirant, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Director-General of National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili, Chairman, Eko Hospital, Dr Sonny Kuku and the Cannadian-based Dr Emmanuel Egbogah have thrown their weights behind the project.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos recently, chairman of steering committee for fund raising for the project, Egbogah said some of the facilities of the hospital will include cardiology unit, with catherisation laboratory, burns unit, major unit, orthopaedics department, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) unit and Computerised Axial Tomogragraphy (CAT) unit.
According to him, the hospital will treat both the poor and the rich, irrespective of their financial strengths and reduce drastically the rates of Nigerians taken abroad for treatment.
Egbogah said “the Augustine Memorial Hospital will for the first time bring hi-tech, world class health-care to Nigerians regardless of the ability to pay.
“Nigerians will be able to access at home and in good time, facilities and requisite medical talent needed to perform complex medical operations.”
The AMH will offer those facilities to Nigerians who cannot afford to pay."
To enable stakeholders raise funds for the project, a fundraising event has been slated for November 24, this year on the theme, "The Health Challenge."
Explaining the rationale behind the project, Dozie asked: "How do you feel when you hear that a Nigerian is sick and has to be flown to South Africa? That is why initiative like this has to be supported," he said.

nice

That would be beautiful. I have not yet heard about it but its such a nice idea. I am already day- dreaming of how the health care delivery in Nigeria would change after such.

I pray the project succeeds.

Constantin. for a man that is so nationalistic, dont you take offence that it had to take white outside help to get your hospital started? you did say Nigeria is rich. why should a rich country take handouts from people that the majority of nigerians despise?

or are you just as contented as some in power to continue in mendicancy?

Good development!I hope it works out!

In an ideal world then Nigeria would have financed this completely itself, but it sounds like a Nigerian-led project and that there has been a lot of time and financial investment from within Nigeria as well as from other countries. Everyone should feel proud about this.

I'm sure the patients won't care where some of the money came from. It's got to be a good thing overall.

jammin you say that 'from people that the majority of nigerians despise'. Who do the majority of Nigerians despise exactly? Bill Gates or all white people? Are you sure of that? And who are you to speak for Nigerians seeing as you are Jamaican? I know Nigerians can speak for themselves. You don't seem to show them the same respect.

There no such thin g as an ideal world my sista.
Anyway,kudos to those that concieved this idea and to think of the fact that it is going to be built in my state adds to my elation. For once ,some good news is coming out of Anambra!

English! you should'nt have corns on every toe .Most certainly Nigerians can speak for themselves, however that does not diminish the truth of the statement. do nigerians love white people? if the answer to that generalised question is "NO", then its not important from which nationality the comments were made.

@ Jammin I do not know how you came about the idea that Nigerians despise white people. I doubt if there is anything that has been said on NL that alludes to that fact,altho i stand to be corrected.
Nigeria is a rich country ( I would say that anywhere anytime) but our bane just like every other third world country has been corruption championed by bad government._IF we can be able to attenuate that, then I can assure you that in no distant time Nigeria will be a nation whose name strikes fear among the presently industrialized nations. Just reduction of corruption,I tell you Nigeria will become a haven! China was once a 'leper' nation b4 but right now you can not talk of the world economy without mentioning the impact of the Chinese Market! I tell you, Nigeria, have as much (if not more than) resources as China.Our problem is : CORRUPTION
However,I doubt if it is too bad in the meantime, to depend on these aids to save a few lives until we put our house in order.

I dont know much about Nigeria, but i will venture to say that Tribalism has also had a debilitating effect on the country. as a matter of fact, i will also venture to say that the root causes of the corruption lies within the tribal politics that is practiced

Forget about tribalism.Tribalism is everywhere.You can hardly find a homogenous society these days.Every country is grappling with its own form and kind of tribalism,,,,u can call it nepotism,nazism,racialism,,,watever all are forms of discrimination.But I tell you that is not what is holding nigeria back. A naive mind will tend to believe that tribalism is our problem.But on a closer scrutiny of the problem,you will see that greediness,which is wat   begets corruption,is really our major drawback.Those in power only use tribalism as a facade when it suits and serves thier purpose and the unfortunate thing is that people gullibly believe them! When an incompetent Hausa man wants to have something in Nigeria,he whips up tribal and religious sentiment as a political tool.When a money hungry Igbo man wants something,he remenbers how many of his kindred that was killed in the Nigerian/Biafrian War.When a power drunk yoruba man wants to occupy an office,he starts championing the philosophy of late Awolowo revered by the Yorubas.With that they gain cheap political points.But after the whole political war,see them reunite at the Nations capital (Hausas,Igbos ,Yorubas) to loot the treasury of the whole country to the detriment of the poor man on the street,whom ironically they used to achieve thier aim in the first place. That is why if you go to the different geographical zones in the country you will see that the ordinary man in the street is suffering regardless of whether you are in the North,South,West or East.The problems you will see in North is wat u will see in the South and that is wat raised the question: Who is marginalising Who in Nigeria? I will tell you.The Politicians are the one marginalising NIGERIANS.Lagos is as bad as Onitsha and Onitsha is not much better than Kano! You will see the same problems of bad roads,non existent power supply,decadent educational system etc in all these regions.Each of these regions have senators representing them in the federal level and the only time you will see these senators in thier constituency is when another round elections is around the corner.Apart from that they are busy at the nations capital stealing the money that was supposed to be used to build roads,schools and hospitals in thier constituency!

I will give u an example with my state,ANAMBRA. This state has the largest market in West Africa.That alone,forget about other sources of revenue, revenue from that alone,is enough to cater for the needs of that state in terms of Education,pipe borne water,good roads etc.But all you see is decadence in all sectors of the state. Should I blame the yoruba or the Hausa man for that? Of course no! our problem is greedy politicians who believe that the revenue of my state should be,and unfortunately is,deposited in thier personal account! These are indigenes of my state but they dont mind if Anambra is falling apart as far as thier pocket is being filled.they dont care if the teachers sre on strike and the kids are at home as long as they are filling thier pockets.GREEDINESS! Extrapolate that to the federal level and you begin to understand the problem with Nigeria.