By Kim Musa Ndoh
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed through the second reading, two bills for the establishment of an Orthopaedic Hospital in Jos and a Federal Medical Centre in Wase, both in Plateau state.
Both bills are being sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, who represents Wase Federal Constituency of Plateau state.
Presenting the bill for the establishment of an Orthopaedic Hospital in Jos, Hon Wase said the Bill sought to amend the Orthopaedic Hospitals Management Board Act Cap.O10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to provide for the establishment of the Orthopaedic Hospital Jos, Plateau State under the control of the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board and affiliated to the Jos University Teaching Hospital to provide specialized Orthopaedic treatment and medical services”.
The Deputy speaker stated that Nigeria with a population of over 200 million persons has only three Orthopaedic hospitals as provided for by the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board Act. “This, Mr Speaker, Hon. Colleagues, you will agree with me, is grossly inadequate”.
Hon Wase pointed out that it was imperative for an additional Orthopaedic Hospital to be established and sited in Jo’s in order to ease the burden on the three extant Orthopaedic Hospitals and to cater to the needs of the North Central zone, which does not have a single Orthopaedic Centre.
According to him, “it is our belief that, when there is an additional Orthopaedic Hospital in Jos, it will connect neighbouring States such as; Nasarawa, the FCT, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Benue and Taraba states thereby enabling more persons to access specialized orthopaedic treatment and medical services”
Speaking on the bill for the establishment of a medical centre in Wase, the Deputy Speaker lamented that despite the strategic location of Wase in Plateau state with its dense and growing population, it has no Tertiary Health facility to provide quality health services for its people.
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According to him, “establishment of the Federal Medical Centre, Wase will go a long way to reduce the burden on the over-stretched Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and other health facilities within the north-central and north-eastern part of the country, and people of Bauchi, Gombe, Jos south local area and part of Taraba state can easily access services in the facility”.
He noted that his constituents are in dire need of a medical centre to fill the huge gap and address the concern of those whose future will be guaranteed by establishing a federal medical centre.