For his commitment to improve the health sector through state of the art equipment that would make diagnosis easy and faster, the Lagos State College of Medicine (LASCOM)’s management has commended the Chairman of Caverton Offshore Support Group, Mr. Remi Makanjuola for donating a multi-million naira molecular biology laboratory to the medical institute through his Caverton Foundation.
The commendation was made on Thursday by the acting provost of the institute, Professor Anthonia Ogbera, during the unveiling of the state of the art equipment at the MRC building inside the medical college on Oba Akinjobi, Way Ikeja, Lagos. With this equipment, LASCOM has joined the league of medical colleges with global diagnosis facilities.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Ogbera said the institute was indeed grateful for the kind gesture of the Makanjuola family whose intervention on the medical facilities came at the right time. “And now we have seen a family who are so magnanimous and selfless. They value education so much and they are willing to donate building and equipment. It is laudable and we are grateful. Coincidentally, this is our 20th anniversary of being in existence as a college. This is a befitting anniversary gift for us. Because we run regular tests and the new laboratory is like raising the bar and having molecular genetics laboratory is something we have been desirous off but it is capital intensive.”
Reeling out the usefulness and benefits of the laboratory, Ogbera said it would help in the diagnosis of diseases such as sickle cell disorder, pre-natal diagnosis, cervical screening, basic diagnosis and a lot of other things, we would be able to do. Though the medical college is 20 years and we can say we are relatively new, we now have facilities that are of international standard,” she stated.
Corroborating the acting provost, Associate Professor of Hematology, Dr Akinbami Akinsegun, extolled the virtue of the Makanjuola’s family who, through the donation, has put the institute among the best medical schools with global facilities. “We assure you that we would make good use of the equipment as we believe that it would speed up our health care services, it would also broaden the scope of knowledge of both doctors and students. We are grateful for the equipment and the donation behind the equipment. Akinsegun seized the opportunity to express his gratitude to the coordinator of the medical laboratory who, coincidentally, is a senior lecturer in the college and also a daughter-in-law to the donor.
In her short remarks, the wife of the donor, Mrs Yoyin Makanjuola expressed her family’s delight for their contribution to society. According to her, the best gift you can give to a man is good health as the popular saying says “Health is wealth.
“It has been a great pleasure to commission this edifice. It is our token of contribution to humanity and society at large. And this is why our family has embarked on this humanitarian gesture to assist the society. We donated an edifice in LASU, Summit University in Offa and we have been silently involved in other humanitarian gestures. And today, we are contributing to the health sector in Lagos State. Health is the topmost of everything because health they say is wealth… And we hope that the laboratory will be a reference point in the midst of all the colleges of medicine in Lagos, South-west and Nigeria at large,” she added.
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