Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
A Kwara-based Public Affairs Analyst, Comrade Ishowo Olanrewaju, weekend referred to as on the Kwara State authorities to urgently convert the lately established Kwara State University of Education (KWASUED) to a specialised medical college to deal with the worsening and persistent scarcity of medical doctors and different healthcare professionals within the state hospitals.
He subsequently cited the Bayelsa Medical University in Bayelsa State, the state University of Medicine and Applied Sciences in Enugu State, and the University of Medical Sciences in Ondo State as present examples.
Ishowo made the decision in Ilorin whereas talking with newsmen on the sidelines of the incessant strike embarked upon by medical medical doctors within the state hospitals.
Ishowo nevertheless expressed concern over the scarcity of medical personnel within the state, noting that the accessible medical doctors had been already overstretched and overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of sufferers they had been required to attend to every day.
He lamented that this example made industrial motion embarked upon by the medical doctors notably troubling.
He argued that the state authorities ought to have prioritised a medical college over a college of schooling, insisting that Kwara’s extra urgent problem was the extreme scarcity of healthcare professionals fairly than educators.
According to him, present establishments, together with the University of Ilorin, Kwara State University (KWASU) and Al-Hikmah University, have already got schools of schooling that produce graduates yearly.
He added that a number of private and non-private schools of schooling throughout the state additionally practice academics.
“The quantity of educators we produce far exceeds what we’d like or can make use of. Our problem shouldn’t be a scarcity of academics. It is a harmful scarcity of medical doctors, nurses and different medical professionals.
“That reality should have informed the government’s decision when it was considering establishing a new university,” he mentioned.
Ishowo maintained that establishing a specialised medical college would assist construct a gradual provide of medical doctors and different healthcare professionals to meet the state’s wants and serve different elements of the nation.
“To address the persistent shortage of doctors and other medical personnel, I am calling for the conversion of KWASUED into a specialised medical institution,” he mentioned.
He additionally proposed scholarships for Kwara indigenes admitted to the proposed establishment, with beneficiaries required to signal a five-year service bond to work within the state after commencement earlier than searching for alternatives elsewhere.
Ishowo mentioned the association would assist retain domestically skilled medical professionals and strengthen the state’s healthcare system.
“Let the federal government present scholarships for Kwara indigenes who need to research drugs and different associated well being programs, and bond them to serve the state for 5 years post-graduation.
“This is how we begin to systematically solve the shortage of medical personnel that has plagued us for years,” Ishowo famous.
He additional said that some state governments throughout Nigeria had already recognised the worth of devoted medical universities and brought steps to set up them.
According to Ishowo, “The Lagos State authorities can also be pursuing plans to set up a typical one college of drugs and well being sciences to deal with the physician and healthcare employee deficit within the state.
“These states identified a need and responded to it strategically. Kwara can and should do the same. The conversion of KWASUED into a specialized medical university will be a response to a documented crisis that is costing Kwarans their health and their lives.”
