The Vice Chancellor, Federal University Lokoja, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi said the institution’s teaching hospital needs adequate funding and manpower to perform optimally.
Akinwumi spoke at a joint press briefing on the upgrade of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) to a teaching hospital, Tuesday, in Lokoja, Kogi State.
He said that the recent upgrade of FMC Lokoja to a teaching hospital was a step in the right direction.
”Apart from being a place of learning, the facility will also go a long way to meet the health needs of the people.
”Our challenge is lack of funds and manpower. We need medical doctors and consultants. We need to equip the hospital to function effectively,” the vice chancellor said.
Akinwumi called on the government and good spirited individuals to support the hospital with funds to ensure efficient service delivery.
He said that there was need to provide hostels, medical laboratory and conducive lecture halls for the teaching hospital.
According to him, the University authority was already reaching out to well-meaning individuals in the state for support.
”We all need to support this teaching hospital to grow. It will provide opportunities for our children who want to study medicine,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor said that the University management was doing everything possible to attract experienced and qualified academics to ensure sound delivery of knowledge.
Also speaking, the Chief Medical Director, Dr Olatunde Alabi, said the hospital had 80 consultants capable of handling all kinds of health challenges.
Alabi said that a teaching hospital should not be rated by its size but its functionality.
”We have whatever a hospital needs to be called a teaching hospital. We started the training of resident doctors since 2012.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the upgrade of FMC Lokoja to a teaching hospital.
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