From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
A Professor of Orthopaedics and Provost College of Health Sciences at the Federal University, Lokoja, Michael Ogirima, has called on the Federal Government to extend funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to Teaching Hospitals.
Ogirima made the call while delivering the 32nd Inaugural Lecture of the University in Lokoja on Thursday.
Our Correspondent reports that the inaugural lecturer spoke on the lecture titled:” Improvising To Greatness: The Surgeon”s Sojourn.”
He also expressed concern over the rate at which medical academics are leaving the country in search of greener pasture in other countries.
Professor Ogirima described the brain drain as a phenomenal problem of the decade that requires government attention through funding of medical institutions to avert total collapse of health sector.
According to him , the “Japa” syndrome in medical circles are not limited to young ones, but old and experienced hands leaving the country’s hospital with grossly inadequate medical personnel due to poor working conditions and lack of motivation on the side of the government.
“The “japa” is costing the country huge amount of money. This cohabits with high rate of medical tourism. The teaching hospitals are not adequately funded or supervised.
“There is relative neglect because they belong to the ministry of health while the university is under the NUC/ministry of education. We, the clinical staff, are caught in between two poorly funded supervisors-a double jeopardy.
“The patients being our obedient “guinea pigs” cannot be subjected to risky experiments without ethical issues” he stated.
Professor Ogirima who is also the President of Nigerian Orthopaedic Association (NOA) while advising the policy makers in the country advocated for more investments by individuals and corporate organisations in medical education and researches.
“Targeted grants to some projects in the university should be encouraged. Grants like fellowships, hands-on workshops and clinical attachments can be institutionalized by philanthropists and private firms through endowment of academic chairs.
“More philanthropists like Pa Afe Babalola, SAN of Ado Ekiti should be encouraged to set up private medical schools to shore up the quantity and qualities of medical and allied health professionals. The more the market is saturated with more doctors with attractive incentives the more the defeat of the brain drain (JAPA syndrome). Equally there is the urgent need to support the private sector in orthopaedic care to be more responsive and complementary.
He also advised federal government to extended TETFUND to the Teaching hospitals as the training and research centres for medical students and postgraduate students.
“However, if this is not possible, special medical education trust fund should be put in place to take care of our poorly equipped health centres. There is a need to enforce various existing policies on health insurance and social welfare schemes for the institutions and the vulnerable” the don advised.
Earlier in his speech , the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi urged the country’s policymakers to ensure that the lecture serve as a wake-up call to invest more deliberately in healthcare, research, and education, stressing that a nation that neglects its surgeons, scientists, and scholars risks its very future.
“In a nation where our health sector grapples with inadequate infrastructure, brain drain, and limited resources, this call to “improvise to greatness” could not have come at a better time”
The Vice Chancellor, congratulated the inaugural lecturer for reaching this important milestone in his academic career.
