Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) has donated 100 sets of hospital beds worth N48.5 million to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria.
Chief Executive of SEOF, Chris Ezike, in a statement issued in Abuja, said the gesture was aimed at equipping the hospital’s COVID-19 treatment centre.
Presenting the beds to the management of ABUTH, Ezike said the SEOF will take care of the bill for transporting and installing the beds in ABUTH.
He said the SEOF founded in 1990 and incorporated in 2003, had been of immense assistance to people in need within and outside the country.
“We stand on a tripod. We do health and humanitarian services, we do education and educational development and we also do empowerment. As a matter of fact, in the last nine years, we have distributed books to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and secondary schools in Nigeria and 18 other African countries valued at $30 million.
“Ahmadu Bello University has been a beneficiary of our books distribution. This year, 2020, we decided to incorporate distribution of health, medical supplies and medical equipment. And we started with 14 containers. Each container is valued at N150 million and several health institutions in Nigeria have benefited,” Ezike said.
He said the beds billed to be imported from the United States, were later sourced within the country.
“We became ingenious, searched and discovered that Kaduna Furniture Company can manufacture the beds. We entered into contract with them. Nobody knows when COVID-19 is going away. What we are doing is to be proactive. We facilitate the procurement and shipment of drugs and supplies to about 16 designated hospitals in Nigeria and ABUTH is one of them,” Ezike added.
Vice-Chancellor, ABU, Prof. Kabir Bala, thanked the foundation for the gesture. Chief Medical Director of ABUTH, Prof. Hamidu Umdagas, said even though ABUTH had no centre for COVID-19 yet they treated patients suffering from the virus.