In a significant move to enhance the capacity of Schools of Bio-Medical Engineering, the Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen and strengthen the nation’s healthcare systems.
The actualization of this initiative attests to the fulfillment of campaign promises of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, to improve the health sector and it’s infrastructure as a major contributor to boost human capital development.
Dr Tunji Alausa, Honourable Minister of State for Health & Social Welfare revealed this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) between the Ministry, GE HealthCare and JNCI Ltd, on behalf of the five (5) Schools of Biomedical Engineering at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
Elaborating further, the Honourable Minister highlighted the critical and deliberate initiatives that were considered and implemented, which finally birthed the signing of Memorandum to build training capacity of the students.
Dr Alausa cited curriculum development, accreditation of the schools for OND and HND programmes and funding as requisite antidote to arrest the dwindling number of Biomedical engineers in the country and enhance their infrastructure.
“The journey of signing the MoU started long ago with series of meetings, diagnostic studies of what our Biomedical Engineering Schools need. We have done curriculum development, thank you GEHelathCare, JNCI for coming to our aid to upgrade our curriculum”, he added.
Speaking on the opportunities and hanging fruits derivable from the capacity building programme, Dr Alausa emphasized that engineers of the five Biomedical Engineering Schools will be trained to work as bio- medical engineers.
“We have also worked on accrediting of the schools for HND, not just for OND. We are doing this in a very deliberate and calculative way to make sure that engineers are trained to work as Biomedical Engineers. And also, to expand the opportunity to millions of young men and women, so that we can expand capacity, train more, provide more opportunities to grow young men and women to go to schools, get degree of OND and HND as Biomedical Engineers. And as they do that, they can actually come out , confident that they can do the work. In doing this, it helps us as an institution, and society in reducing the cost of care”, the Minister further affirmed.
To ensure sustainability of the Schools’ operations, the Minister pointed out that the Ministry will create an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) codes to facilitate a streamlined process for budgetary allocations in the 2025 fiscal year for the schools.
The Honourable Minister commended both GE Healthcare, JNCI and Global Fund for committing to train the students.
Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Daju Kachollom mni, commended the capacity building initiative, stressing, it is a continuation of efforts by the Ministry to rejig the health sector for optimal service delivery to the citizenry.
In their remarks, the Managing Director JNCI, Mrs Claire Omatseye and General Manager GEHealthcare, Dr. George Uduku affirmed that their organizations align with the present administration’s vision to enhance and improve health care delivery systems in the country, stressing, the signing of the MoU is a testament of their commitment to train five students from each Biomedical school of engineering in Enugu, Maiduguri, Edo, Zaria and Lagos.
Alaba Balogun
Head, Information & PR
