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Provost calls for increased funding for medical schools, bank donates clinical coats to college

By Ujunwa Atueyi
26 March 2015   |   5:12 am
Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has urged the Federal Government to provide special funding plan for colleges of medicine to enable them achieve the purpose for which they were established.

bProvost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has urged the Federal Government to provide special funding plan for colleges of medicine to enable them achieve the purpose for which they were established.

Speaking at the orientation programme for freshmen, where Access Bank also presented laboratory coats to them, she observed that poor infrastructure and teaching facilities compound the existing problems in these schools and worsen the quality of medical students churned out from them.

Not only that, Ogunsola said it also hinders the objective of producing highly trained medical personnel, a development she said has adverse effects on the well being of the society.

According to her, “Poor funding of the health and education sectors is affecting the quality of training offered to medical students. The training arm of the health sector is particularly ravaged because when people talk of health, they talk of finished products, which are the hospitals. Nobody is looking at the future, which is the workforce that we are producing in the college.

“Universities are badly funded, most medical campuses are away from the main campus, so when people do things for the university, they assume they have done it for the medical schools whereas it hasn’t happened because we are not in the same location.

She hinted that inadequate funding results to lack of infrastructures and facilities, which in turn affects the number of candidates admitted into the college.

“Because of our facility we can only admit a limited number of people into the college. For example, the maximum we can admit into medicine is 150 candidates, and there is only one medical school that surpasses this and that is the one at Ibadan, Oyo State. They can admit 180 candidates. And we have up to 3, 000 applicants, but we cannot accept them because we do not have the capacity and the infrastructure.”

“So government really has to find the solution to funding not only the universities, but actually dedicating some funding specially for the medical schools to be able to carry out its obligations.

She regretted that the college, conceived many years ago to produce highly trained medical personnel was still struggling to achieve that.

She advised the new (200 level) students of the college to gird their loins and start working as hard as they could

“Merit is our watch word here. There is no point having 20 per cent in the paper, when in your brain you have capacity for 50 per cent. Start with every seriousness and let your knowledge reflect in all activities.”

Also at the event, Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, urged the new students to explore their potentials and put it to good use since the quality of medical workforce will affect the wellbeing of the society.

He said, “You have the capacity to be great, just put it to good use. Anytime I travel outside the country Nigerian doctors are greatly recognized. Just devote good time for your studies and I assure you will be the best in your profession.”

He said Access Bank would continue to support the college in any way they could, as there were plans to expand their corporate social responsibility approach for maximum benefits.

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