If global healthcare index is to be judged by the ratio of physicians to citizens of a country, Nigeria will unarguably be ranked about the lowest worldwide. It is one country that has all it takes to produce the desired number of physicians needed for its 200 million population, but for obvious factors, it is among nations with the least healthcare personnel globally.
Nigeria has an estimated 35,000 medical doctors for its 200 million residents, according to figures from the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), which amounts to one physician per 6,000 residents or one physician to 1000 families. This is even as the World Health Organisation (WHO)s recommended that every nation should have at least one physician to 435 persons.
What this therefore means is that for Nigeria to meet WHO recommendation, it would boast of at least 460,000 physicians. But the present statistics has shown that the country is still 425,000 away from achieving the dream; a huge gap that suggests the situation is somewhat hopeless.
Apart from the dearth of doctors, the country still suffers lack of adequate nurses, medical laboratory scientists, and other healthcare workers. To compound the challenge, medical schools in Nigeria cannot absorb the number of qualified candidates who are interested in pursuing courses in the medical field.
But the PAMO University Medical Science (PUMS) is fast coming to the rescue, and hopes to change the narrative; first through the establishment of Nigeria’s first all-purpose medical science university, and then by raising its standard, such that products from the institution would not only attempt to close the gap in number of physicians needed in the country, but to also ensure the school churns out doctors, pathologists, nurses, physiologists, among others who would stand head-to-head with best healthcare personnel across the globe.
The university, sited in a serene atmosphere in a large expanse of land off Aba Road in Port Harcourt, has courses such as anatomy, biochemistry, human nutrition and dietetics, pharmacology, physiology, nursing and medical laboratory science in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, as well as Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences.
Established barely 14 months ago, PUMS, at its second matriculation for medical students and its allied health counterparts in Port Harcourt, with the number of Nigerian young prospective university students filling their Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) already exceeding the quota the school has set for new students.
Speaking during the matriculation ceremony, a former Governor of Rivers State and Pro-Chancellor of the university, Dr. Peter Odili said he hopes that in no distance time it will be an institution to reckon with not just in Nigeria, but across Africa and beyond.
He said in less than 14 months of establishing the institution, Nigerians were now choosing the school ahead of the quota set by the university.
The renowned medical doctor noted that the level of discipline and quality of learning in PUMS was unrivaled, as its projection remains to become one of the best universities in the country.
He said: “Our plan is to ensure that graduates from this institution are exceptional in the course of offering healthcare services to Nigerians. And for that to happen, they must be certified worthy in character and learning, which is what we are pursuing.
“In the hospital setting, the most important person is the patient. You must therefore treat your patients like your bosses without which you have no work. For that to happen, your character must be impeccable, and that is what PUMS is about.”
The Vice Chancellor, PUMS, Prof. Michael Diejomaoh said the occasion was again an opportunity to showcase the institution’s uniqueness, adding that students should take their studies seriously and keep the rules and regulations of the institution.
Former Head of State and Chancellor of PUMS, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), described the institution as a world class university that is dedicated to building healthcare workers, including medical doctors, nurses and other health workers in the country.
Abubakar decried the inability of most Nigerian public universities to provide standard medical-related programmes, promising that PUMS would strive to address all the challenges facing medical education and practice in the country.
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike said he was glad that students from the institution can now use the state teaching hospital for their trainings, adding that products of the school would eventually benefit the state, as well as the country.
Wike, whose government is sponsoring 100 students every year in PUMS, said the state will also support the school with N250 million.
He called on illustrious sons and daughters of the state to emulate the pro-chancellor by establishing institutions that have lasting legacy.
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