Post-graduate medical college reels out development plan

The newly inaugurated President of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN), Prof. Opubo da Lilly-Tariah, has assured that his administration will fully pursue the mission of the college as well as expand its dividends to the society.

Speaking during his investiture as the 20th president of the college, Lilly-Tariah said not only will he consolidate on the gains of the previous administrations; he will also work to position the college to be in a comparable situation with its counterparts worldwide.

This he said will be achieved through developmental plans, including certification of more courses; creation of new programmes; national database; investment in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as well as international collaborations among others.

He said, “We will encourage more faculties to come up with curriculums for more programmes. I applaud the faculties that currently have subspecialty fellowships certified by the college. I will encourage all faculties to develop curricula in subspecialties in line with the 21st century as the college wishes to certify all subspecialty training. The college at all times will strategically position itself to meet international best practices.

“Research is vital to solving our national health questions, beyond this, the college should be a repository of data on national health issues. To this end, the various faculties will be tasked with drawing up areas of issue-based interests that will generate research topics.

The college is willing to collaborate with any agency in funding this project. We will also collaborate with similar institutions not only in West African sub-region but with the rest of Africa and the world.”

Regretting that the challenges of the medical college are being neglected, he stated that if government could invest heavily in the healthcare sector and empower the postgraduate institution to continually produce medical and dental specialists of the highest quality, competence and dedication, the huge amount of money being lost in medical tourism would be saved.

He therefore urged government to look into the infrastructural challenges of the college, the clinical skills and simulation laboratory project which is capital intensive; the issue of brain drain and strikes, among others.