Alliance Hospital Opens Specialist Paediatrics Centre To Tackle Child, Maternal Deaths

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Alliance Hospital has inaugurated a specialist paediatrics centre in Abuja, describing the facility as a strategic intervention aimed at reducing preventable child and maternal deaths while expanding access to quality neonatal and pediatrics healthcare in Nigeria.

The facility, unveiled yesterday, is expected to provide specialized care for newborns, infants, children and adolescents, with modern equipment designed to manage critical childhood illnesses and neonatal emergencies.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Chris Otabor, said the centre was established to bridge a critical gap in Nigeria’s healthcare system, where inadequate specialist facilities continue to contribute to high rates of infant and maternal mortality.

According to him, the country’s existing pediatrics and neonatal facilities remain grossly inadequate to meet growing demand.

“We identified a major gap in the healthcare system and decided to provide a solution. With this new centre, we are creating opportunities for children to survive and for mothers to receive better care. This is a major step towards reducing infant and maternal deaths in Nigeria,” he said.

Otabor explained that the hospital had repeatedly received emergency referrals from other health facilities seeking access to neonatal intensive care units, ventilators and incubators, but was often unable to accommodate them because of limited space.

He said the expansion would significantly improve the hospital’s capacity to handle critical neonatal cases.

“In the past, hospitals would call to ask if we had ventilators, incubators or space in our neonatal intensive care unit, and many times the answer was no. Only God knows what happened to some of those children. Today, relief has come with this facility,” he said.

The medical director challenged both government and private investors to establish more specialist paediatric centres across the country, insisting that Nigeria cannot depend solely on public hospitals to meet its healthcare needs.

“It is unfortunate that we spend so much time discussing problems without advancing practical solutions. What we have today is not enough. We need more specialised centres across Nigeria,” he added.

Drawing parallels with India’s healthcare model, Otabor urged private investors and medical professionals to play a greater role in strengthening healthcare delivery.

He also called for deliberate efforts to curb medical tourism and the continued migration of healthcare professionals, arguing that Nigeria possesses the expertise to become a destination for quality medical care.

“Our hospital specializes in kidney transplantation, and last year alone we treated more than 60,000 patients from within and outside Nigeria. That means we are not only retaining foreign exchange but also attracting it into the country,” he said.

The Deputy Governor of Gombe State, Dr. Manasseh Daniel Jatau, who was the Special Guest of Honour, described the facility as another significant contribution to Nigeria’s healthcare sector.

He urged stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, researchers and private investors, to work together in developing locally driven healthcare solutions.

“Health is too important to be left to government and healthcare professionals alone. Stakeholders should collaborate, harness our abundant natural resources and invest in research that will produce medicines and medical equipment locally,” he said.

Also speaking, the Director-General of the National Institute of Sports, Comrade Philip Shaibu, commended Alliance Hospital for complementing government efforts to improve healthcare delivery.

He urged more private organizations to invest in health infrastructure, noting that public-private collaboration remains essential to addressing Nigeria’s healthcare challenges.

Medical experts, including Prof. Titus Ibekwe of the University of Abuja and Dr. Kelechi Okonta, also attended the ceremony alongside consultants, surgeons, neurologists, academics and other stakeholders in the health sector.

Guests were later taken on a tour of the newly commissioned facility, which Dr. Otabor disclosed was built and equipped at a cost of approximately $400,000.