In a bid to provide basic and affordable health care to parishioners and people in its environment, the priests and lay leaders of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos are set to erect an ultra-Modern hospital to cater for the health need of the people. The ground breaking stone of Our Lady of Fatima Ultra-Modern Hospital building as the health facility is named, was carried out by His Grace, Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Catholic Archbishop of Lagos on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 and was witnessed by clergy and lay faithful of the parish. Making his remarks on the occasion, Archbishop Martins thanked all who joined him in laying the foundation stone, as he prayed that the hospital will be a source of healing for all who will use it. Stating that the project has begun in faith, with God’s guidance, the Archbishop urged the people to continue to do whatever needs to be done for the hospital to be brought to a successful completion. He commended the parishioners for participating in the ministry of Jesus Christ by bringing succour to people in different ways.
The Archbishop assured the people that they will receive adequate reward for all that they have done over the years towards the growth of the Church. Very Rev. Msgr. Anthony Erinle, Parish Priest, Our Lady of Fatima expressed gratitude to the Archbishop for his presence and thanked all priests who had worked in the parish and those who took the initiative of purchasing the land for the hospital. He thanked the building committee headed by Sir Victor Anyanwu and the parishioners for their financial and moral support, as well as others who have been working towards the success of the project. Speaking on the benefit of the health facility, Sir Victor Anyanwu, Chairman of the building committee said it is an outreach to every human being, as the Church does not discriminate. According to him, “We want to build a standard hospital that even a poor man can come to. The Church in their wisdom will subsidise it in such a way that what you cannot get by your own power, the Church will provide for you because the ministry of evangelisation through healing is one of the ultimate purpose of the Church. “The Church has been running a clinic, and every year they have what is called ‘health week’ which caters for people; Christians, Muslims alike.
We want to do away with the notion that people cannot seek treatment in good hospitals because they don’t have money. By the grace of God, we can make people happy by providing what the government has stopped them from getting. This is not a question of paying huge amount of money before to get treated; it’s for people to pay a token to get solutions to health issues. According to Anyanwu, the idea of building the hospital was conceived in 2019 by Rev. Fr. Augustine Okhulegbe who inaugurated the hospital building and fund raising committee. The project which is estimated to cost N500,000,000 is expected to be completed in six months.
