The Federal Government, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), has concluded plans to construct a 168-room ultra-modern hostel for medical students of the University of Lagos.
During the groundbreaking and site handover ceremony at the proposed site of the hostel inside the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, on Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer of Colton Construction Limited, who is the contractor for the project, Dr Anthony Ajulo, said the project will be the first of its kind at UNILAG, adding that the project is in line with the Federal Government’s objectives of increasing the number of doctors and nurses produced annually in the country.
“This is a modern, ultra-modern student hostel. It is self-contained.
It is three floors, and it is going to have 168 rooms. And it is going to be the first of its kind in a long time at UNILAG. This is in line with the Federal Government’s objective of increasing the number of medical graduates and doctors that will be produced,” Ajulo said.
He noted that one of the major challenges, particularly in a city like Lagos, is student accommodation, adding that each hostel room with two students.
“So, this is going to help a lot to achieve the goal of producing 1,000 doctors per year at UNILAG. It is expected to be completed within 2 years,” he added.
Also speaking, the Principal Partner of Colton Construction Limited, Dr Collins Balogun, said the goal is to increase the number of medical doctors produced in the country to tackle brain drain.
“The goal of the President is to increase the number of medical doctors we have in the country because, you know, over the years, we have been experiencing brain drain. And the President has given a marching order that universities should be producing a minimum of 20,000 medical doctors every year,” he stated.
He highlighted that to achieve that; infrastructure has to be improved. Balogun added that when completed, the structure is going to bring a lot of comfort to the students.
“This is a 100 per cent Federal Government project, a TETFUND project. As I told you, it is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda. So, it falls under the direct instruction of Mr President to increase the total number of medical doctors we are going to have in Nigeria,” noted Balogun, who disclosed that there are plans to extend projects like this to other parts of the country.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Folasade Ogunshola, while expressing joy at such a laudable initiative, added that the country has a challenge with retaining its healthcare workforce and reiterated the need to have more healthcare workers.
“I think I am extremely happy. The country has a challenge in retaining its healthcare workforce. And so, it behoves us to also train more. The need for a larger healthcare workforce has been, for a very long time, a known fact, but not much has been done about it. What constrained us was the infrastructure. You cannot train healthcare personnel without them having a hostel close to a hospital. A few years ago, a discussion started that if we are going to increase enrolment, we also have to improve infrastructure. And it was decided that if we are going to improve and increase the numbers, then we have to prepare the infrastructure to train them,” she said.
She commended the government for its focus on the healthcare workforce: “As a country, we need them, and we look forward to much more being done so that we can actually have the right ratios of healthcare workforce to population,” she concluded.