By MBAFAN ADE, Abuja –
No fewer than 12 Nigerian tertiary hospitals have been selected to benefit from medical equipment from Project C.U.R.E, Denver, USA through the facilitation of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Registrar of JAMB, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, made this disclosure in a meeting with representatives of the Federal ministries of Education and Health, Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres selected from the six geopolitical zones of the country and other top personalities from the two ministries.
This is contained in the current edition of JAMBulletin, a weekly publication of the public examinations body, made available to NATIONAL ACCORD in Abuja on Monday.
According to the publication, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arc. Sonny Echono; the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, represented by Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Onwudiwe (Director, Teaching Hospitals Division), the Chairman, Governing Board of JAMB, Dr Emmanuel Ndukwe; and the Chief Medical Directors of Teaching Hospitals and Medical Directors of Federal Medical Centres, attended the meeting.
The Board, in 2018, on a visit to Washington, D.C. to assess the viability of siting a CBT Centre there, had discovered the existence of Project C.U.R.E, an organisation that had donated medical equipment to health institutions in over 130 countries and is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies, instruments and equipment to resource-constrained healthcare facilities worldwide.
In addition to donated medical equipment and supplies, Project C.U.R.E provides critical lifesaving training programmes to medical providers that enable them to reduce the mortality rate in their respective communities.
It is in a bid to ensure that healthcare institutions in Nigeria also enjoy this opportunity that the Board established contact with Project C.U.R.E in 2019 to secure medical equipment for selected healthcare facilities in Nigeria so as to enhance and strengthen their capacity and, by so doing, increase access to basic medical services for Nigerians.
The 12 hospitals selected are University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Borno State and Federal Medical Centre, Azare, Bauchi State from the North-East; Yusuf Maitama Sule University Teaching Hospital, Kano State and Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Zamfara State from the North-West.
The University of Medical Sciences, Otukpo, Benue State and the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, North-Central; Others are the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Teaching Hospital, Nsukka, Enugu State and the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, from the South-East while the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos State, and Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, were picked for the South-West. Irrua Specialist Hospital, Edo State and Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State were selected from the South-South.
The Permanent Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono, in his remarks, commended the Board for the initiative and revealed that he led the delegation that went to the USA to explore the opportunity of securing the donation of the medical equipment. He said the intervention was not only timely but also necessary to improve on medical services in Nigeria.
The representatives of the selected hospitals commended the Board for the intervention, which they said would address the problem of medical tourism, while promising that the opportunity given to them would be judiciously utilized.
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