State House clinic: Account for N10.1bn budget, Reps tell health, FCT ministers

The House of Representatives has ordered the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and his Federal Capital Territory (FCT) counterpart, Mallam Muhammed Bello, to provide a detailed account of how the State House Clinic budget is spent.
Chairman of the Ad-hoc committee investigating the deplorable state of Aso Rock clinic, Magaji Da’u Aliyu, gave the order yesterday, at the commencement of the investigative hearing on how the 2015-2017 budget was expended.
This was on the heels of denials by the two ministers that their respective ministries was not in charge of the clinic which caters for the health needs of the president, his deputy, their families and staff of the Presidential Villa.
The House recently resolved to investigate how N10.1 billion appropriated for the clinic, between 2015 and 2017 was spent.
This followed the adoption of a motion calling for an investigation of the deplorable state of the clinic, after First Lady, Aisha Buhari and her daughter, Zahra, had raised concerns on its deplorable state.
Speaking at the investigative hearing, Minister of State for Health, Osagie Ehanire told the panel that the State House clinic is not directly under their supervision. He also denied knowledge of the government agency that oversees the clinic.
“I don’t know who is directly in charge. I didn’t say that it is not under anybody, maybe under the FCT. It is not unusual that the clinic is not under the ministry; this is also applicable in some states. This was what we met on ground.”
When the lawmakers sought to know if the clinic is licensed or accredited, the minister said it was assumed that the clinic is accredited and explained that accreditation of hospitals is under the state government, in the case of hospitals in states.
Consequently, Ehanire noted that the clinic’s accreditation should be the responsibility of the FCT administration.
He added: “I am not aware of the status of the training of doctors practising in the clinic. The choice of who heads the clinic lies with the president. It is the prerogative of the president.”
But, the FCT Health Secretary, Mrs Amanda Pam, told lawmakers the clinic is not under their purview.
“FCTA has 16 registered hospitals. The clinic is not registered among these hospitals. The clinic does not fall under our purview. I don’t know who is in charge of the clinic.”
In his ruling, Aliyu said: “The summary of the whole thing is that the clinic is just there; it is not supervised and it’s not under anybody. The Ministry of Health and FCT said they are not aware, meaning the hospital is just there. I want all information on the clinic. We can’t afford to risk the life of Mr. President and somebody should be (held) responsible.”
|Sun