Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has inaugurated the chairman and members of the governing board of the Dalhattu Araf Specialist Hospital, known as DASH, in Akwanga. According to Channels Television, the governor performed the inauguration as part of efforts to strengthen the management and oversight of the new health facility. The move signalled the state government's intention to place the hospital on a sound institutional footing from the outset.
Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, the governor explained that the establishment of the hospital in Akwanga followed the donation of the former Dalhattu Araf Specialist Hospital in Lafia. That older facility was handed over to support the takeoff of the Federal University of Medicine, Lafia Teaching Hospital, creating the need for a replacement specialist hospital elsewhere in the state. The decision therefore linked the expansion of medical education to the wider reorganisation of tertiary health services.
Governor Sule noted that the new arrangement ensures each of the three senatorial zones of Nasarawa State now has a tertiary health facility. By siting the new specialist hospital in Akwanga, the government sought to spread access to advanced medical care more evenly across the state. The governor framed this balance as an important step towards reducing the distance residents must travel to reach high level healthcare.
On the scale of the project, the governor disclosed that the state government has invested about 6 billion naira in infrastructure development at the new hospital site. He explained that the site was relocated to enable a complete reconstruction of the facility so that it could meet modern healthcare standards. The investment was presented as evidence of the administration's commitment to building hospitals capable of delivering up to date services.
The governor said that, having put the right structure in place for the hospital, it had become imperative to constitute a governing board to support its management. According to him, the board would provide oversight and strategic leadership direction to ensure effective service delivery at the facility. He added that the state had carried out an extensive process in constituting the board, underlining the importance attached to its composition.
The inauguration of the board rounds off a phase of physical investment and ushers in the stage of running the hospital under formal governance. With each senatorial zone now hosting a tertiary facility, the state authorities are positioning the new Akwanga hospital as a key part of their healthcare network. The coming period is expected to test how effectively the board and management can translate the infrastructure into quality care for residents.