Kano State Government inaugurates Advisory Committee and named Dr Aminu Magashi Garba as Chair

By Asmau Ahmad

His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje OFR yesterday, Tuesday 21^st November 2017 has inaugurated an advisory committee that will advise on the operation and management of the 2 newly constructed mega hospitals in the state (Giginyu Specialist and Zoo Road Pediatric Hospital). The state government has invested billions of naira to equip the facilities with the needed modern and state of the art equipment that will change the “narrative” regarding curative medicine in Nigeria. Few hours to the inauguration of the committee the Honourable Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole has visited the facilities and had this to say “I have not come across any hospital in Nigeria with these kind of modern and sophisticated equipments”.

Governor Ganduje in his remarks during the inaguration said that “business cannot be as usual in managing these new state of the art hospitals, because government has expended billions of naira from their completion to procurement of world class equipment and as such the state government cannot afford to see it mismanaged……he added that even the recruitment of the staffs will be advertised in order to get the right set of people in order to ensure that the hospital remains open all the time to general public.”

The Executive Governor while inaugurating the committee named Dr Aminu Magashi Garba as its chair. Aminu coordinates the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) and Chair the Board of Trustees of Community Health and Research Imitative (CHR). He has also earlier on led a team of advocates that led to the enactment of the Kano Health Trust Fund Law (KHETFUND) which is termed “the best legislative piece in the history of the state.”

Below are the members of the committee

And below is the committee’s terms of reference as read by the governor.

1. To examine the current progress of the construction and equipping of the 2 Mega Hospitals and advice on the timely completion accordingly.
2. To articulate a proposal on operational guidelines, monitoring mechanisms and management models for the 2 hospitals.
3. To provide strategic advice on the Health Management Information System (HMIS) to be applied on the operation of the hospitals
4. To advice on the best practice to be applied for the recruitment of both technical and professional staff for the 2 hospitals including chief medical directors and other key management staff.
5. To advice on the best arrangement for the handling, operation and maintenance of sensitive and sophisticated equipment’s in the 2 hospitals.
6. To advice on the most transparent method for the collection of appropriate revenues to ensure sustainability in the operation of the hospitals equipment.
7. To generate a substantial goodwill for the 2 hospitals by engaging in public awareness through mass media aimed at reducing medical tourism abroad by the people of Kano State in particular and Nigeria in general.
8. To advice on the best form of management for the 2 hospitals (public only or public- private partnership)
9. To advice on any other issue relevant to ensure transparent and sustainable management of the 2 hospitals

Kano State is located in northern part of Nigeria, the most populous state in the country with over fifteen million inhabitants and with the highest seats in the federal legislative house of assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).