The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Prof. Ememabasi Bassey, yesterday, acknowledged that the outbreak of COVID–19 was a blessing in disguise to Nigeria’s medical subsector.
According to him, apart from the lockdown preventing highly placed Nigerians from embarking on medical tourism, it also created opportunity for policy makers to look inwards to develop the nation’s healthcare system.
The CMD made the submissions during a chat with journalists in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. He recalled that critical surgeries hitherto conducted outside the country were successfully done within, adding: “Nigeria is blessed with talented medical experts.”
Bassey said the current administration at the centre had made more releases and investments in medical infrastructure than any other regime in recent decades.
IN a related development, Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University Okada (IUO), Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, has called on the three tiers of government and relevant stakeholders to urgently halt the brain drain in the health sector.
Speaking during the 16th Induction/oath-taking of the institution’s newly qualified medical doctors in Edo State, Ezemonye lauded the contributions of health workers on the frontline in containing the pandemic nationwide. He praised the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for repositioning the medical profession.
The administrator said the IUO’s medical college prides itself as the first of such by any private university in Sub-Saharan Africa to graduate medical doctors.
“Cognisant of the statutory functions of the MDCN with regards to the maintenance of academic and ethical standards in the practice of medicine and dentistry in the country, I take the liberty to commend the council for creditably performing these roles over the years,” he said.
