Construction work has commenced at the site designated for the new Massey Street Children’s Hospital located at the Adeniji-Adele Road, Lagos Island.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who was at the construction site on an inspection tour, stated that the commencement of construction is in fulfilment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Medical Infrastructure Blueprint strategy and his promise to replace the current Massey Street Children’s Hospital with a new specialist Children’s Hospital that is spacious and fit for purpose.

Speaking on the rationale for embarking on the project, Abayomi explained that the construction of a new Children’s hospital is geared towards addressing the challenge of space and expansion being encountered at the site of the current Massey Street Children’s Hospital.

His words: “Government is aware of the challenges encountered at the old Massey Street Children’s hospital; we understand that there isn’t enough space for expansion and this prompted us to look for a new location that is not too far away because we want to keep the important historical heritage associated with the Massey Street Hospital”.

“Luckily, we found this site and we have spent a lot of time designing a specialist Children’s hospital. It is going to be very iconic, designed fit for purpose and will serve us for decades”, he added.

The Commissioner disclosed that the site for the new Massey Street Children’s Hospital has also been earmarked for some other medical infrastructure projects which will help Lagos to develop high resilience to shocks.

“We also have this area mapped for additional medical infrastructure that is going to support the long term Lagos Medical Infrastructure strategy, as well as some additional specialist medical projects that will support the State in developing a high resilience to shocks. Lagos will also be able to develop advanced medical infrastructure that will help us compete internationally and enter the medical bio-economy”, he explained.

While revealing that the construction of the new Massey Street Children’s Hospital will span 18 months, the Commissioner noted that land preparation and environment clearing is ongoing, adding that fencing will soon commence.

“We are looking at the next 18 months to complete this project at least in terms of construction. Massey Street is part of a bigger plan. The first important thing is that we have moved to this location and created a new open space. A nice edifice, something that is befitting for Lagosians as specialist Children’s facility would be erected and then we decongest the old Massey Street Hospital and keep that as a satellite facility”, Abayomi stated.

Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had revealed plans to commence the construction of a new Massey Street Children’s Hospital and some other health facility when he recently commissioned the Badagry Maternal and Child Centre earlier this year.