A Bill seeking to provide the Legal Framework to establish Federal University Lafia Teaching Hospital on Tuesday scaled the second reading in the Senate.

Leading the debate on the Bill, the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura said the teaching hospital was expected to provide facilities for the training of medical and other students as well as serve as referral centre for other hospitals in the catchment areas.

When passed and assented to, the bill according to Al-Makura, would also erect, equip, maintain and operate the hospital to provide facilities for diagnosis, curative, promotion and rehabilitative services in medical treatment.

Senator Al-Makura also noted that this move for the establishment of the Federal University Lafia Teaching Hospital is therefore informed by the need to bridge the existing gap between primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare delivery in Nasarawa State and Nigeria as a whole.

The university, established in 2010 he added, had commenced full academic activities in the Faculty of Medicine making the establishment of the Teaching Hospital imperative to facilitate commencement of clinical teaching.

Distinguished Senators at plenary in their various contributions, spoke glowingly on the desirability and timeliness of the bill and the need for its speedy passage saying it would provide the legal framework for the establishment of the Teaching Hospital.

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan in his ruling committed the bill to combined committees of Health and Tertiary Education to prepare it for the third and final reading.