The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has constructed and inaugurated a rural medical centre in Are community in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The medical outpost, which would be operated by ABUAD’s Department of Community Medicine, was built in honour of a former Vice Chancellor of Ekiti State University (EKSU), Professor Israel Orubuloye, who is an indigene of the community and a member of ABUAD mamanegent.
Speaking on the first rural medical centre built in Are-Ekiti, the Head of Community Medicine, ABUAD, Professor A. O. Kunle-Olowu, said the outpost was to strengthen community medicine in the state and in fulfillment of the requirements of Community-Based Medical Education, which he said: “is not possible without a facility like this.”
Professor Kunle-Olowu noted that the move by ABUAD was a laudable one because “not many medical schools have the fortune of a rural medical centre from inception.
He also stated that “the community stands to gain from regular visits of the students, especially when they carry out assignments like house registration, numbering and also to develop their interest in community-based research project geared towards establishing baseline data for a community.”
The Provost, ABUAD’s College of Health Sciences and Medicine, Professor Olurotimi Sanya, urged the people of the community to make themselves available to the budding doctors on training, saying “they will take deliveries and attend to issues of maternal healthcare that are common in rural setting.”
Founder of the university, Chief Afe Babalola, urged the community to secure the students and the health facilities in the overall interest of the populace.
Also speaking, the traditional ruler of the community, Oba Boluwade Adebiyi, expressed joy at the facility and assured that the community would do what it can to ensure it is put to good use.