Pfizer Builds $26Mn Diagnostic and Disease Control Centre in Kano

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Company has completed a $25.5 million Diagnostic and Disease Control Centre (DDCC) in Kano State. The DDCC is a specialist hospital built as part compensation for the 1996 Trovafloxacin drug clinical trial that the company was involved in resulting in deaths of some children and irreversible illnesses. A healthcare official, David Odiwo, spoke with the media that the hospital is ready to be handed over to the Kano State Government. He said Pfizer underwrote the health care initiatives under the term of settlement reached between the company and the state government over the disputed Trovan test in 1996. The DDCC would provide facilities for the training of medical doctors and other key health care professionals in the country. “The centre would also conduct research for infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera, polio myelitis and meningitis as well as quarantine patients during epidemic outbreaks. “The facility had a functional health laboratory to conduct research into other aspects of medicine bordering on public safety and also assist medical personnel in tracking individual strains of causative agents and diseases so as to determine the required medication. “The centre contains various facilities such as public health laboratory, micro-biological reference laboratory, diagnostic centre, 100-beds patient ward facility, ultramodern kitchen and dining facility as well as a staff quarters and a morgue. The facility is ready and as soon as the state government is ready to receive it, the facility will be handed over to them.