ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has signed into laws the bill establishing the Ondo State University of Medical Science and Amendment Appropriation Bill 2014.

 

He signed the two bills at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the governor's office in Akure. In his address after the signing of the bills, Mimiko said the university would not just be another university but a global reference point in the area of health.

 

"We are not just building a university but a specialised one that will beat all national benchmark. The university will be a global reference point in medical care."

 

He said facilities at the Trauma Centre, Mother and Child Hospital, Kidney Centre, Gani Fawawehinmi Diagnostic Centre and others would not only serve the university but the entire Ondo State. Mimiko, who commended the leaders and members of the Ondo State House Assembly for the various bills passed this year, said his administration had invested much in all the tertiary institutions in Ondo State and the result are evidence based.

 

He said all the courses offered in Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) got accredited in less than two years of its operations and that products from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, AAUA, got the overall best results in the Nigerian Law School examination. He said no nation can develop better than the level of the products of its tertiary institutions.

 

In his congratulatory message at the ceremony, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Prof. Temitope Alonge, said he is proud to be part of the mission of Governor Mimiko and promised to render any assistance whenever it is needed.

 

Recall that the State Government recently announced its plan to establish a Medical Science University to enable it institutionalize the successes it has been able to achieve in the health sector.

 

The state's Commissioner for Information, Hon. Kayode Akinmade who spoke on the plan also informed that the proposed University seeks to halt the brain drain being experienced in the health sector through the production of top quality health professionals to effectively man the various hospitals in the state. Informing that Ondo state is the only state in the southwestern region without a Teaching Hospital, the establishment of a medical Science University, Akinmade mentioned, became imperative especially as it is expected to make for the provision of an institutional base for acquisition of academic, professional and technological knowledge needed for manpower development in technology, basic applied sciences.

 

The University, among others is also expected to provide sound scientific, technological and professional training to address identified health need and problems, solve them within the context of community and national needs and sustainable development.

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Government has announced its plan to establish a Medical Science University to enable it institutionalize the successes it has been able to achieve in the health sector and also halt the brain -drain being experienced in the sector.

 

The state's Commissioner for Information, Hon. Kayode Akinmade made this known while speaking with newsmen in Ondo at the weekend during a working tour of the Ondo Medical Village. He mentioned that the proposed University seeks to build on the enviable platforms already created by government to ensure the sustainability of qualitative health care system development and to halt the brain drain being experienced in the health sector through the production of top quality health professionals to effectively man the various hospitals in the state.

 

Informing that Ondo state is the only state in the southwestern region without a Teaching Hospital, the establishment of a medical Science University, Akinmade said also became imperative especially as the obvious brain drain of health workers seeking to explore further career opportunities within and outside the country, does not augur well for the sustainability of recent gains of the government in the health sector, as well as the eventual scale up and replication of the Mother and Child hospitals across the state.

 

The establishment is also expected to make for the provision of an institutional base for acquisition of academic, professional and technological knowledge needed for manpower development in technology, basic applied sciences.

 

The Commissioner explained that at the inception of the administration, basic health indices of the state were considered the worst in the entire south west because of the relatively high rate of maternal mortality and morbidity.

 

To reverse the ugly trend, he said, the administration immediately responded by initiating unprecedented bold and ambitious health care development programmes aimed at reducing the burden of diseases and mortality among the people of the state, hence the Abiye Safe Motherhood initiative which he said seeks to provide free access to quality health care services for pregnant women and under-5 Children, to the globally acclaimed Mother and Child Hospitals.

 

He mentioned that the government has established the first of its kind Trauma centre and Surgical centre to handle critical trauma and burns cases, thus, submitting that government has invested massively in wholesale capacity development of the health sector and has continued to facilitate sustained recruitment of key personnel such as Doctors, Nurses among others, to bridge the critical human resources gaps at the hospitals and at basic health centres across the state.

 

From only five consultants in the entire health care delivery system at the inception of the Governor Olusegun Mimiko led government, he said the state now has more than 72 consultants in various fields of medicine.

 

Despite efforts towards improving healthcare delivery however, he said government is still confronted with many challenges, chief among them, the brain drain of health workers which he said the establishment of a Medical Science University will prevent .

 

The University, among others is also expected to provide sound scientific, technological and professional training to address identified health need and problems, solve them within the context of community and national needs and sustainable development. A bill seeking the establishment of the University, he mentioned, has been forwarded to the state House of Assembly for consideration.

 

Guardian