By Amos Odeh, Yenagoa.
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has explained the rationale behind the establishment of multiple medical institutions, saying it is targeted at meeting the dire need of human resources for health development in the state.
He made this known while receiving an 11-man accreditation team from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to Government House, Yenagoa, who were in the state for a two-leg accreditation exercise for the Bayelsa Medical University, and the Niger Delta University.
Governor Diri, who spoke through his Deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, clarified that the Bayelsa Medical University (BMU) was established to complement other state-owned medical-related institutions, including the faculty of medicine at the Niger Delta University, to provide the much needed manpower in the health sector of the state.
He noted that in the last five years his administration had been channeling more resources to manpower development in the health sector than it does for physical structures because of the overarching importance of human capital in the running of any system.
According to him, the state government would leave no stone unturned to that all relevant courses and programmes at the BMU, and those of the NDU were fully accredited, stressing that the state was in a hurry to catch up with its peers in critical development areas.
The Bayelsa Chief Executive emphasized that his administration would not compromise standards whatever it does especially in the health sector, adding that the visit would further spur the state to do more to improve and consolidate on its achievements in the sector.
His words: “We are quite elated that you have come to visit us today. And your visit is for two purposes: To tell us how we are doing, as well as point out the areas we need to do better and then the necessary things we need to do for improvement within the limits of available resources.
”You may not find a perfect situation, because I believe that if any waits for perfection, he will never start out to do anything in life. So as you go out there, just tell us what we need do to enable the Bayelsa Medical University meet the required standards.
”Bayelsa is in a hurry to develop and catch up with other states, that is why we established two medical schools in the state. We are in dire need of human resources for health, hence we had to channel more resources for the development of the needed manpower for health.
”I believe that we need more human resources than physical structures in the provision of healthcare services and we have justified that through our investments in this critical sector of our state.”
In his remarks, the Deputy Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN, and Leader of the Accreditation Team, Dr. Nnaemeka Nwakanma, commended the state government for its investments and choice of management team in tertiary health institutions.
According to Dr Nwakanma, if the state government sustains its efforts and commitment to the health sector, Bayelsa would soon become the cynosure of all eyes for positive reasons in the Niger Delta region.
He said his team which is made up of high-ranking professors of medicine and drawn from various medical institutions across the country, would do its best for the state tertiary institutions to operate with the required standards and produce quality graduates.
The 11-man Accreditation Team was accompanied on the visit by the Vice Chancellor of the Bayelsa Medical University, Prof. Dimie Ogoina, and other top management and academic staff, including the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof Aloysius Ebi Ligha.
