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Welcome to 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Kaduna (44 NARHK)

The history of 44 NARHK would not be complete without that of the Nigerian Army (NA) which dates back to 1863, when Lt Glover of the Royal Navy selected 18 indigenes from the Northern part of the country and organized them into a local force, known as the “Glover Hausas”.  The small force was used by Glover as governor of Lagos to mount punitive expedition in the Lagos hinterland and to protect British trade routes around Lagos.  In 1865, the “Glover Hausa” became a regular force with the name ”Hausa constabulary” which was incorporated into the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) in 1901.  The establishment of the WAFF led to the Merger of all units into regiments in each of the dependencies.

The Second World War (WW2) of 1939-1945 brought into fore the use of the WAFF which resulted in heavy casualties.  These casualties were brought into present day Igbobi, hospital Yaba for treatment but were later relocated to the present day 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Yaba. Subsequently, the casualties were later moved to present 44 NARHK in the year 1944 thus the appellation “44“ depicting the year of establishment.

The hospital became part of the British Army Medical service in the 82 Division (West African Army).  At the end of the WW2, the British Army Medical Service became known as the West African Army Medical Corps.  This metamorphosed with time to the present day NAMC. The hospital became the NAMC static Medical units rendering specialist Medical care.  Since inception the Hospital has had different  nomenclatures.  It was named Military Hospital Kaduna (MHK at inception with Commanding Officers. This was later changed in 1983 to NARHK with Commandant and again in 1988 to MHK with Commanding Officers.  In 1991, it was reverted back to NARHK with Commandant as head and in 2000, the head of the Hospital became known as Director to depict its new status in the health delivering system in the NA.

The Hospital was first commanded by Lt Col D Matheson and he was followed subsequently by other Commanders, Commanding officers, Commandants and Directors as shown below in the chronicle of Command of the hospital since inception.

Service Departments

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