From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The World Bank Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research (ACE-PUTOR) University of Port Harcourt, has procured sophisticated medical equipment for the training of medical and health workers to boost effective healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
The project, funded by the World Bank, is also aimed at the enhancement of education of medical students by providing a link between classroom learning and real life clinical situations.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Friday , the Vice Chancellor, Professor Owunari Georgewill, described the new Medical Simulatiom laboratory as a demonstration of the institution’s commitment to the development of education in Nigeria in particular and the sub-Sahara Africa, in general.
Prof. Georgewill, while commending the World Bank for the donation, tasked the Centre to put the facility into good use by redoubling its efforts in producing more excellent graduates that will compete favourably with their counterparts not only in Nigeria, but globally.
He said: “In line with the changing trends to training medical and health workers to acquire the right knowledge and skills set for effective service delivery, use of simulation has more than ever before become extremely relevant.’’
Earlier in his address, the Centre Leader, Prof. Daprim Ogaji, who expressed appreciation to the World Bank for the support to the Centre, said that the Centre of Excellence is a multi-disciplinary team under a shared vision that was established to provide leadership and communicate best practice in research, training and support for innovation.
He informed the gathering that the Centre now has a world class, high-fidelity simulators across various specialty training in medicine.
Prof. Ogaji assured that the equipment would provide learners with real-world-like opportunity to develop and practice their knowledge and skills in a simulated environment.
Also speaking, the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Prof. Angela Frank-Briggs, expressed appreciation to the Vice Chancellor who, according to her, has been very magnanimous in giving the medical school all that was needed to make the College a place for excellent healthcare delivery.
Highlight of the occasion was the inauguration of the newly acquired Anatomage table at the Department of Anatomy while the contractors who handled the intervention –Bistar Limited and P E Bema Nigeria Limited, were highly commended for their expertise in delivering and providing quality services to the Centre.