Rasheed Shekoni Specialist hospital now a Federal Hospital - Minister of Health

The Minister of Health, Dr. Emmanuel Osagie Ehanire has said that the Rasheed Shekoni hospital formerly owned by Jigawa state government is now a Federal hospital. He stated this today when he paid a working visit to the Federal University Dutse.

He said the release of the Rasheed Shekoni Specialist hospital by the state government to the university is good for the university and the students adding that with the official handover to the university, the specialist hospital is now a federal government hospital.

According to him, Rasheed Shekoni and the Federal Medical Centre Birnin-Kudu are now the two Federal hospital in the state. Dr. Ehanire commended the state government for the enthusiasm and zeal to release the hospital to the university.

The Minister said the visit is part of his effort to speed the process of preparing the first set of students who are in their third year for clinical training adding that the visit to the hospital facility is a high priority project for the Ministry because of the need for the students going to clinical training to have a platform to fall back on.

Dr. Ehanire said he had earlier communicated his thoughts on the teaching hospital to President Muhammad Buhari and also informed him on his proposed visit adding that the technical team on the assessment visit has the Director of Legal services of the ministry as a member in order to facilitate the legal process of converting the hospital so that the teaching hospital takes off without hitches.

He commended the university for the giant strides in the last eight years adding that he is confident graduates of the university will be well trained.

Earlier in her speech, the Vice- Chancellor, Federal University Dutse, Professor Fatima Batul Mukhtar described the visit of the Minister as historic and the university will remain grateful for the honor.

Professor Fatima informed the Minister that after the setback esperienced by the College of Medicine in 2016,a team of medical specialists constituted by university to visit FMC Birnin- Kudu and Rasheed Shekoni, recommended that Rasheed Shekoni Specialist hospital should be considered as teaching hospital because of proximity to university and vast land for future development.

The VC told the Minister that already the university has started providing basic infrastructure by constructing two block of hotels at Rasheed Shekoni hopsital donated by NNPC while the NCC has laid a fibre optic from the university to the hospital and has equipped the hospital with a state of the art digital learning centre.

Professor Fatima said the university has secured N2 billion from TETFund to construct Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Library and Administrative Building at the Rasheed Shekoni Hospital.

The VC said she is optimistic that with this visit of the Minister and his team, the struggle VI's over and the upgrade of the hospital will commence in earnest.

Earlier the Minister visited the Deputy Governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Umar Namadi, the Emir of Dutse,Alhaji Dr.Nuhu Muhammad Sanusi and the Federal Medical Center, Birnin-Kudu.