Prototype of Iweala's multi-million dollar hospital in Abuja
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s husband, Ikemba Iweala, and their son,
Uchechi Iweala, are teaming up to establish the Capital Health and Surgical
Care Center in Abuja. Both men, who are medical doctors, will serve as chairman
of the board and medical director respectively at the medical facility
described as state of the art.
The hospital was originally to be formally opened last June by
former President Goodluck Jonathan, on the assumption that he would be
reelected. Mr. Jonathan’s defeat froze the idea.
Information available on the hospital’s website HERE, states that the hospital “is
conceived to improve tertiary-level healthcare delivery in Nigeria and Greater
West Africa by providing top-rate service of international standard.” The
hospital, which has been quietly under construction and development in the last
three years, is equipped with 50 beds, three operating rooms, Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI), and CT scan.
The undisclosed financiers of the project apparently spared no
expense in conceiving the project. The project’s architectural design was
undertaken by Perkins + Will Global, a major player in
the world’s architectural scene. The firm is based in Washington, DC with
offices in more than 24 countries all over the world. The firm of architects has
designed various multi-billion dollar projects in the US, Asia, Europe, the
Middle East, and Latin America. The hospital’s interior design was done by
Perkins + Will/DAR Group.
Another US-based multinational company, General Electric,
handled the hospital’s technological equipment and infrastructure. The project
does not list any indigenous Nigerian company as being involved in the
conception or execution of any aspect of the hospital.
While the hospital’s website does not provide any cost estimate,
two sources familiar with the project claimed that the Iweala’s hospital cost
between $100 and $150 million.
An Abuja-based architect also told this reporter that the
profile Perkins + Wills suggested that the hospital was pricey.
“If we go by the scale of projects that Perkins + Wills gets involved in, then we can conclude that this was a major project,” the US-trained architect said.
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