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Tag: medical school’s

  • UI VC worried about explosion of medical schools

    UI VC worried about explosion of medical schools

    Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), Prof Isaac Adewole has expressed concern over the proliferation of medical schools in the country.

    The professor of obstetrics and gynecology made this observation in a keynote address delivered at the induction of 64 medical doctors freshly produced by the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) College of Health Sciences on Monday.

    In his address titled: “Beyond the Coveted MBBS; Contemporary Problems and Prospects of Postgraduate Medical Education in Nigeria,” Adewole said he feared quality of medical care would be compromised.

    He said: “The proliferation of medical schools with no strict regulation remains ‘a keg of gunpowder’ that needs urgent attention. I am concerned that some of these schools are also making frantic effort to throw their graduates into labour market.

    “The implication is that the quality of service and an increasing proportion of malpractice might be too much to contend with. It is an emergency that needs urgent surgical and medical operation in theatre of the policy makers and other stakeholders.”

    He also said trainee, trainer, government and other stakeholders needed to take postgraduate medical education seriously.  He added that there is no end to medical education.

    Adewole, who said training institutions should be reorganised, added that most of them had turned into “glorified tertiary health centres”.

    He said: “We need to have a comprehensive regulation at the national level that will transcend individual professional associations and disciplines for a qualitative output.

    “Training colleges should continue their engagement with National Universities Commission and look for ways to incorporate real academic training into the professional fellowship programme. We cannot deny the fact that the current pressure might lead to a future demand from the incoming generation to have academic exposure before being engaged in the universities.”

    Meanwhile, Provost of the UNILORIN College of Health Sciences, Prof ‘Wahab Johnson, said the institution had churned out 4,062 medical doctors in its 38 years of existence, adding that the doctors had been well trained.

    “Our robust MBBS programme has continued to turn out on yearly basis, well trained medical doctors who have continued to contribute quantitatively and qualitatively to the health-care needs of our beloved nation,” he said.

    Earlier, Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali, said the new graduates are capable of improving healthcare delivery system in the country and the world.

    Ambali, who charged the medical graduates to be professional always, said: “a professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it. This is very true of doctors whose work can be anytime anyway and the work has to be done well.”

    He also urged the new doctors to be humane and caring.

  • Salvaging our medical schools

    with Nigeria producing just four per cent of the 7.2 million healthcare workers worldwide, there is reason for us to be worried about medical education.

    There is an acute shortage of medical doctors, nurses, and other categories of healthcare professionals the country.

    Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Prof Folashade Ogunsola, brought the problem into sharp relief during Tuesday’s orientation of 200-Level medical students who just crossed over from the main campus of the university in Akoka, to the medical college.

    She said though Nigeria accounts for 11 per cent of the world’s population, 25 per cent of the world’s disease burden is from here.  Nigeria is, sadly, the capital of diabetes in Africa; malaria kills over 30,000 per 100,000 Nigerians compared to the world average of 4,000.  Maternal mortality and infant mortality rates are high.  (Nigeria is among the 20 countries with the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world).  And the inadequate number of well-trained medical professionals contributes to the problem as much as the poor state of our health institutions.

    Currently, Prof Ogunsola said that the CMUL can only admit 150 out of the 3,000 candidates that apply to study medicine yearly.  The institution has the second largest quota in Nigeria.  The first, University College, Hospital, Ibadan, can only admit 30 people more than CMUL.

    The nursing schools cannot also admit many students at a time.  Two years ago, the nursing school of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), set examinations for thousands of candidates to fill only 50 slots.  The new schools of nursing established by the Lagos State government cannot admit more than that either.  The reason for the limited capacities of these training institutions is because of the lack of facilities.  Training of medical personnel is expensive, yet, funding is in short supply.

    I have a friend who experienced what it meant to train in a poorly-funded medical school.  Unlike in the good old days when about two students trained with a cadaver (corpse), in her time, the whole class depended on one.  So, when in the laboratory, since not all of them can study the cadaver at the same time, the interested few do the study while the others sit around chatting, reading or doing other things.  When the cadaver team finds something major, they announce to the class: “We have found the heart.” Such call gets an instance response.  The others get up to have a look; then return to their previous pre-occupation till the class is over.

    The situation is worsened by brain drain.  As a result of the unattractive teaching and learning environment; and afterwards the prospect of practicing in ill-equipped and short-staffed hospitals without good pay, a huge percentage of the doctors seek the Golden Fleece abroad.  A friend told me of his brother, who trained in Nigeria and now practices in Finland.  Among his friends of about nine, only one practices in Nigeria.  I personally know of three doctors that have migrated to Canada and the United States in the past three years – and one that is preparing to move away soon.  So, despite training them with meagre resources, the doctors do not stay around long enough for the country to reap the fruit of its paltry investment.  Teachers are not also encouraged.  Many have been hanging in there hoping for the time things would change.  But when will the change come?   How long do they have to keep waiting?  The challenge is huge.

    As Prof Ogunsola rightly said, the government can reverse the situation if it wants to.  It can achieve this by investing adequately in training institutions and initiating policies that will encourage our professionals to stay in the country and those in the Diaspora to return home.  However, it really depends on what our priorities are.

     

     

  • Medical schools to study herbal medicine

    Medical schools to study herbal medicine

    THE Federal Government has taken steps to integrate herbal medicine into the curriculum of medical colleges. It has raised a committee for the development of curriculum for the training of herbal medical practitioners in medical schools.

    Besides, it has constituted a committee on herbal products promotion and export.

    Minister of Health Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, who raised these committees, said they are aimed at realising the economic benefits of herbal medicine.

    The Herbal Products Promotion Committee is to identify key manufacturers of herbal products in Nigeria; identify range of herbal drugs and classify as food supplements or therapeutic agents; determine the volume of herbal drugs being exported from Nigeria;determine the volume of herbal products being imported and their sources.

    The 14 man-committee is expected to also determine impediments to production and acceptability of Nigerian herbal products; critically review, identify and recommend means of encouraging the local production of safe, efficacious quality herbal products for domestic consumption and export; determine the potential of herbs and herbal products in terms of their value chain for job creation and foreign exchange earnings for Nigeria and to proffer any other recommendation, which in the opinion of the committee, is necessary to the realisation of its mandate.

    The committee has Prof K.S Gamaniel of Nigeria Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) as Chairman.

    Members are J. E. B. Adagadzu; Dr Hadiza Nuhu of Ahmadu Bello University; Medical Director, Health Forever Products Limited, Otunba Olajuwon Okubena; Director, Pax Herbal Research Laboratories Limited, Rev Fr. Anselem Adodo; Alternative and Traditional Medicine Practitioner Dr Ayuk Enock Paul and Mr Amodu of the Ministry of Defence.

    Others are representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH); the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC); Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment; Nigerian Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA); National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners (NANTMP).

    Also on the committee are Deputy Director, Traditional Medicine Development Desk (TMDD) and Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH).

  • A medical school’s long road to accreditation

    A medical school’s long road to accreditation

    IT was long in coming; taking all of nine years. When the news broke of the accreditation of the College of Health of Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, many students could not believe it. Their attitude was that of “we have heard that before”.

    On several occasions, their hopes have been raised and dashed over the college’s accreditation. The long wait ended last November 15, following the visit of the accreditation team of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to the university’s teaching hospital.

    Before accreditation, the students, many of whom have spent not less than seven years in the college, had protested to draw attention to their plight. The MDCN team visited the hospital in June and was not impressed with what it saw. It gave the management six-months to meet certain requirements, failing which the college may be banned.

    In February, students besieged the Benue State Government House, demanding to see Governor Gabriel Suswam, but they met his Deputy Chief Steve Lawani

    After waiting for eight months, the students again demonstrated against what they dubbed the management’s inability to secure accreditation for the college. The protest led to the closure of the college for about six weeks. During the period, the accreditation team came to access the college’s facilities.

    After the initial disbelief which greeted news of the accreditation, the students took to the Facebook to celebrate.

    President of the Benue State University Medical Students Association (BESUMSA) Kawen Pededo, 400-Level Medicine, wrote on his page: “It means we now have something that will take us up to graduation.”

    Speaker of the association’s parliament Andrew Iorkyaan, also in 400-Level, said he got the news from a friend but did not believe it. He said he did not envisage the accreditation coming the way it did, pointing out that the greatest pain he suffered during the “years of stagnation” was the time and opportunities he lost.

    Stephen Tornyor, a 400-Level student, who has spent seven years in school, said he has been part of the struggle for accreditation since 2006 and was shocked when the news came in. He said his worst moment during the “stagnation” was when people made derisive remarks about his future.

    He said he was now preparing for the lecture halls and hospital wards “because that is where I rightly belong.”

    Another 400-Level student, who claimed to have been in the university for eight years, Jeff Isah, thanked God for the accreditation. He thanked The Nation for its support during “our long years of struggle for accreditation.”

    The Public Relations Officer of the medical students’ association, Samuel-Nelson Atsehekaa, 300-Level Medicine, said he was elated by the news, adding that his morale was dampened whenever he thought about when he would graduate.

    Ferdinand Mbahon, 400-Level, praised Governor Suswam and the university authorities for the development. He said his most challenging moment “during the stagnation were the discouraging comments from friends that almost killed my zeal for studies along the line.”

    The college re-opened last Monday and students have since moved into their hostels. Addressing the students on Tuesday, the Provost, Professor, Shima Gyoh, blamed the delay of the accreditation on poor design of the teaching hospital and admission of students when the hospital was not ready.

    Prof Gyoh noted that he passed through medical school without accreditation problem, saying what happened would make the students to be sensitive to their environment. He “assured them that the hospital had full accreditation” promising that he and other staff were not going to make money from them by selling lecture notes or forcing them to buy books.

    The Dean of Preclinical, Prof Simeon Adebisi, read out the timetable to students, urging them to return to classes now that the collective struggle is over.

    At the time of filing this report, students were seen tidying up their rooms and getting ready for lectures which have since begun.