***11 other medical institutions to benefit

By Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has kick started the delivery of the medical equipment worth billions of Naira it facilitated for 12 selected health institutions across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria with the unveiling of that of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).

Speaking at the commissioning of the UITH medical equipment in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on Friday, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic provided the much-needed impetus for countries around the globe to do the needful by breaking barriers and tapping into available opportunities.

He said: “For us in Nigeria, the pandemic served as a wake-up call that opened our consciousness to the need to adequately equip public health institutions to complement our highly acknowledged skilled force of medical personnel. It is in pursuit of this noble goal that JAMB, in its wisdom, decided to enter into a partnership with a grant agency in the United States of America (Project C. U. R. E) to equip 12 tertiary health institutions in Nigeria.

“This is premised on our fervent belief that we could address the deficits in this particular sector of our nation if every segment of the society contributes its quota no matter how little to confronting the lack in the critical areas of our society, such as health , food and education.

“Project C.U.R.E supplies free medical equipment to needy facilities across the globe and that all that is required of the recipient health facilities is to provide logistics to convey the equipment from Project C.U.R.E warehouse to their locations anywhere in the world, which JAMB decided to key into as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility towards its fatherland and to boost the capacity of the health sector in the country.

“Consequently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was entered into between JAMB and Project C.U.R.E on behalf of the 12 benefiting health facilities to facilitate access to agency’s medical equipment grants for the benefit of the Nigerian people.”

The12 hospitals selected, according to Oloyede, are
University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Borno State, Federal Medical Centre Azare, Bauchi State,
Yusuf Maitama Sule University Teaching Hospital, Kano State and Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Zamfara State.

Others are University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, University of Medical Sciences, Otukpo, Benue State, University of Nigeria Nsukka Teaching Hospital, Nsukka, Enugu State, Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, Abia State, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State, Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State and Irrua Specialist Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, which opted out, according to the JAMB Registrar.

The unveiling of the first container being delivered to the University of Ilorin, the JAMB Registrar added, would be followed by others which are lined up to receive their own consignments in due course.

As
COMMITMENT OF JAMB

The intervention of the Board in the area of health care delivery is to support government’s efforts aimed at addressing the huge medical infrastructural gap

Oloyede thanked the Project-CURE for its strategic interventions in promoting healthcare across the globe and also urged individuals and corporate bodies to “imbibe the spirit of giving and sacrifice by rededicating themselves to promotion of the best interest of humanity through facilitation of physical infrastructure and enhanced capacity-building projects in our inadequately funded public education and health institutions.”

In his welcome address, the Chief Medical Director, UITH, Prof. Abdullahi Yusuf, said the equipment would go a long way in relieving and assuaging the institution financially, while curbing medical tourism in the country.

End