The establishment of a specialized university for health education in Lagos will to tackle the pressing issue of workforce shortages and burnout in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.
So says participants at the public hearing for a bill to provide for the establishment and constitution of the University of Medicine and Health Science, Lagos and for connected Matters 2024, held at the Lagos House of Assembly complex, Alausa, Ikeja.
The Deputy Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Mrs. Mojisola Meranda in a keynote address said the House was actively seeking inputs from relevant players and other stakeholders to positively turn the tide in the health and education sectors.
Mrs Meranda said the proposed institution seek to cater for large number of applicant seeking quality training in healthcare and ensure standardisation in modern medical practice and to serve as vehicle for development in general.
“This bill seek to create a specialised that will award degree in health sciences and build seasoned academia that will positively turn around the health sector “she added.
Contributing, the Commissioner for health in Lagos, Professor Akin Abayomi noted that asides solving the problem of shortfall in healthcare manpower, the proposed University promises to revolutionize the way medical professionals are trained and deployed.
He stated that “when you are having a shortage of something, it’s either you are not producing enough or you are losing it anyway.
We are not only producing not enough medical experts, but the global shortages is even drawing the little we are making amd the population is expanding year by year.
We in the healthcare profession know what’s going on, because you go to any medical facility in Nigeria, you see overburdened doctors.
For us in Lagos we are taking drastic steps to address this shortages.”
He explained.Chairman, Committee on Tertiary Institution, Mr.Ajani Owolabi in a welcome address explained that the bill is part of the efforts atsecuring the future of health care delivery and promote research.
Deputy Majority Leader, Lagos House of Assembly, Mr. Ademola Kasunmu while giving an overview of the proposed bill, said the University, which would offer training and degrees, would also be the apex institution for medical sciences, overseeing all other health education institutions of the state.
The hearing was also witnessed by various stakeholders in health and education , including administrators of the state-owned higher institutions, as well as Oba Alara of Ilara, Oba Olufolarin Ogunsanwo.
Reporting Olusegun Haastrup