In the course of an almost 8 (eight) years tenure
of service, I have been privileged to lead a team
of public servants who have given a better name
to governance in our country by their commitment
to confront problems, devise solutions to them
and painstakingly pursue those solutions to
fruition.
Five new Independent Power Plants in Akute,
Lagos Island, Alausa Ikeja, Mainland GRA, and
Lekki, 10 (Ten) brand new Maternal and Child
Centres, with 100 beds each, a new school of
Nursing in Igando Alimosho, Primary Health Care
Centres in Epe with 24 hour lighting by solar, a
light rail system whose construction is making
progress inspite of huge odds, represent some of
our problem solving interventions that have
shown the difference between us and an
amateurish government led by the PDP.
Today, my chest is pumped up, my head is raised,
my heart is full of pride and I can say thank you,
and very well done to our team, as we open the
Gbagada Cardiac and Renal Hospital to serve our
people.
For those who are coming here for the first time,
please permit me to dimension the problems that
this hospital was meant to solve.
After Governor Tinubu’s administration upgraded
the Ikeja General Hospital into a teaching
hospital, the place became full, with new
structures built there. A critical care unit, a
diagnostic centre with MRI facilities, a dental unit
and many more, which compelled us to expand to
Gbagada in order to provide more specialist
facilities for critically ill people and to train our
doctors and students.
During the 2007 campaign, one of my aides was
shot by opposition thugs, he died in this hospital
because it was over- crowded with burns victims
who were casualties of an NNPC pipeline that
exploded in Alimosho.
The Gbagada Expressway used to flood, it
belongs to the Federal Government, and residents
of this area of Gbagada, Medina Estate and
Deeper Life all lived with fear of the rains.
That was when the Ministry of Health and Deux
Project, our contractor came up with the design of
this complex as an Annex to LASUTH.
At the time also, the Honourable Commissioner
for Health informed me that there were up to
20,000 Nigerian medical personnel, who were
living and working overseas.
Many of them who I met on my travels,
complained that they wanted to come home and
practice but there were no hospitals comparable
to where they were accustomed to working.
I told them that we will do something.
Year on year, I watched as we exported Nigerians
abroad, with family members to care for and
support them; all at high cost in foreign
exchange, because there was no local alternative.
Between 2008 and 2014, we sponsored very sick
people overseas at tax payers’ expense. There
were 42 (Forty Two) cardiac cases and 28
(Twenty Eight) renal cases that benefited from
this gesture of compassion on the
recommendation of the Ministry of Health.
There were also 11 (Eleven) renal cases that were
State sponsored for kidney transplant, dialysis
and post-transplant immunosuppressants at St.
Nicholas hospital in Lagos
Some people have needlessly died abroad out of
loneliness, being unable to see their loved ones
around after going through complex surgeries,
changing diet and eating foreign foods they were
not used to, and seeing people who did not speak
their language.
Yet the PDP and its Government was moving from
NEEDS, to VISION 2020, to 7 Point Agenda and
now to Transformation.
The turning point was when we exported
President Yar’ Adua to a Saudi Arabia hospital to
manage a kidney ailment.
We could have built one with all the petro dollars.
But that is not the PDP way. The Federal
Government does not understand that it
diminishes our image every time the head of
government travels abroad for medical care.
I understand that. But I must not be mistaken for
suggesting that we can have all specialties
locally. But we must try.
In most other countries, the best hospitals are the
Military hospitals where the President gets
treatment. Nigerian Military hospitals used to be
like that.
What is the ailment that a Nigerian President
goes to treat abroad that a Nigerian hospital built
by him cannot handle?
This hospital was started in 2008 and completed
in 2013. That is 5 years, compared to the 16
(Sixteen) years of the PDP Presidency.
This failure cannot be attributed to the
opposition.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, these were
the problems we set out to overcome and I say
with pride, that we have defeated the problems.
We have struck a decisive blow at them.
We could not build without solving the drainage
problem, which took over a year.
Today, this area is flood free and you can ask the
residents of Medina, Gbagada, and Deeper Life
what their new experiences are.
We also revived the street lights poles on the
Federal Government owned Gbagada Expressway
which the PDP campaign team now adorns with
the President’s posters asking for your votes, but
they have not paid N51 billion we spent on other
federal roads in Lagos.
Since we are now in the era of giving change, let
me remind them that N51 billion is chicken
change compared to what they have spent on TV
and radio campaign propaganda.
As we prepared to complete the hospital, our
contractors, Deux Project advised us to replace
the asphalt on the road leading to it with concrete
so that it will last long.
Their argument is that critically sick people
require urgent attention and a bad road can make
the difference between life and death.
Today, there is a concrete that does not need
resurfacing. It will be here for at least over 50
years. Many of you drove through it to get here.
Today we have a hospital that has 24 dialysis bed
stations, 20 (Twenty) beds for recovery and
general ward use, 2 (Two) high dependency wards
with 5 (Five) beds each, making a total of 10
(Ten) beds, for patients who have come out of
intensive care, 5 (Five) beds for patients in
intensive care, 4 (Four) post-surgery beds for
patients who just finished surgery, 2 (Two) post
cathlab beds and 2 (Two) surgical theaters built
to the most contemporary standard to cater for
people who are critically ill.
There are lecture rooms for students, but one of
the fascinating facilities is the surgical theatre
where kidneys and hearts can be removed and
transplanted.
There are cameras fitted into the surgical scumps
which project images and voices of what is
happening in the theatre to the students lecture
rooms on the ground floor.
This ensures that students can learn by seeing
and hearing what is going on in the theatre
without actually being in there, which ensures the
sterility of the operating theatre area and
prevents patients from secondary infection.
After building the hospital, the next problem was
managing it.
We put out a bid on the internet and in
international newspapers for concession
management.
That was where we came across the Renescor
Team, a multi-dimensional consortium of Nigerian
and American doctors and nurses who are cardiac
and kidney specialists in America.
One of their members, an American, in his
presentation to us in the Executive Council had
performed numerous successful heart surgeries.
This is the quality of the team that won the
concession to manage and maintain this hospital
for the next 5 (Five) years with a renewal option.
As at today, they have recruited 32 (Thirty Two)
medical staff who are already on ground. 17
(Seventeen) are local, 8 (Eight) are Indians, 7
(Seven) are Nigerians in diaspora who returned
home full time.
12 (Twelve) other Nigerians in diaspora have
signed to come home here in rotation and 50
(Fifty) Nigerian specialists in diaspora would be
coming on permanent rotation.
The negotiations took almost a year but they
assure us first that our students and doctors will
be able to train here.
They also assure me that there will be no strikes
in this hospital because critically ill people will
never be left alone.
They also have in their agreement, an
accommodation for a quota poor people who the
State will refer to them to treat for free, and when
that quota is exceeded the state will pay.
Whatever we pay in future, will be cheaper than
going abroad. It will not include airfare, it will not
include accommodation abroad all of which are
paid in dollars, and doctors’ fees and feeding
costs will now be charged in Naira, in Lagos.
Therefore ladies and gentlemen, apart from
solving a drainage problem, a road problem, and
building a hospital we have taken a very big step
in reversing human capacity flight from Nigeria
and turning a brain drain into a brain gain.
Nigeria medical practitioners are returning home,
to practice medicine.
But this is not the end of the dream. This hospital
now has the best burns unit and facilities in
Nigeria, in response to the experience of severe
burns that I encountered in 2007.
We are now planning to site our cancer centre in
this complex if you elect an APC Government led
by Akinwunmi Ambode to continue after me.
We also foresee the start of medical tourism from
across West Africa into Lagos Nigeria.
So we have planned accommodation for relatives
who may want to accompany their sick relations
here for treatment within this complex and the
land for construction and management has been
set aside.
So there is opportunity for investors who propose
acceptable terms within the hospitality industry to
build hotel/apartments here for relatives.
In the way that we paid for accommodation for
spouses or relatives of sick people to go abroad,
our hospital can now earn income from the same
facility and use it to run its operations, set new
salaries for doctors, nurses and health workers
who are willing to do the work and reduce the
dependence on Government subvention.
In this way, health workers can set their own
income based on work done and away from
agitation for wage increase.
This is the part of the dream that I cannot
complete. The road to achieving it is clear. But I
am happy to see this day. We have taken the first
big step. The journey can continue from here in
tested and experienced hands.
I can look forward to my old age now with
confidence that if anything happens to my heart
or kidneys, I used my period of service to build a
facility that can respond to my needs.
I know now that I will not need to go abroad
because of a lack of choice. If I do so, it will be
my own choice and not because the Lagos State
Government failed to provide an alternative.
It remains only now for me to thank Dr. Jide Idris
and the entire staff of the Ministry of Health, who
designed and implemented this project, Dr. Muiz
Banire, Mr. Tunji Bello of the Ministry of
Environment who designed and implemented the
drainage solution, and Mr. Tunji Olowolafe and
Deux Project who delivered the bolts and nuts of
this hospital.
To the glory of God, I now have the pleasure to
declare the Gbagada Cardiac and Renal Centre
open for the benefit of humanity.
May the infirmities of all those who are brought
into this centre be fully cured.
Thank you for listening.
Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State

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Nice move Your Excellency.