Government targets N207bn revenue from specialised hospitals

The Federal Government hopes to generate about N207 billion from proposed five specialist hospitals and one intravenous fluid plant across the country.

The project, which will be built under a design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) model, is going to be located across the six geo-political zones.

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) said it has advanced in its discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Medical Service Limited (NMSL) over the proposal.

The projects have been proposed to run for a concession period of 20 years.

Of the six pilot projects, two have been issued with outline business case (OBC) certificates while the OBCs for four are being finalised.

The two projects that have received OBC certificates are multi-specialist hospitals in Abuja and Port Harcourt.

While the Abuja project is estimated to accrue a total revenue of N91.7 billion in the 20 years concession period, the projected accruals from the Port Harcourt project within the same period are estimated at N115.5 billion.

Both hospitals will be 100-bed facilities, offering specialities that include cardiology, orthopaedics, pulmonology, cerebrovascular surgery, nephrology, oncology and chemotherapy as well as assisted reproduction.

Financial Advisors to the NMSL on the proposed projects, Sigrun Partners paid a courtesy visit to the commission and were received by the Acting Director-General, Michael Ohiani.

Speaking during the meeting, Ohiani said that the initiative was a welcome development. He believed they would help address the challenge of medical tourism.

He hinted that the projects were just a pilot scheme of what could be attainable if they succeed.

He explained: “We are working with NNPC management for the concession of six projects, five of which are specialist hospitals and one intravenous fluid plant.

“We were very glad when NNPC approached us that they want to showcase how medical facilities can be run through PPPs and they have selected five states of the Federation to use as pilots.”

The DG stressed that ICRC was committed to the timely delivery of the projects which he noted will greatly improve healthcare delivery in Nigeria, thereby reducing the need for medical tourism among the over 200 million Nigerians.”

In his remark, the Nigerian representative of Sigrun Partners, Gordon Gofwan, informed the Commission that it was committed to supporting PPP projects in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria had no choice but to rely on PPPs for its development, noting that it was ready to partner with the Commission to advance the attainment of its mandate.

“Partners from Madrid are in Nigeria presently and they thought it would be important to see a very crucial stakeholder, the ICRC and that is why we are here today.

“We believe that the future of the country is going to be driven by PPPs because the fiscal space is constrained, government capacity to fund projects will be severely tested, so if we are going to meet our development aspirations, PPP is inevitable.”