Provosts task FG on college of health sciences

THE National Association of Provosts of Colleges of Health Sciences and Technology has tasked to the Federal Government to intervene in health sciences and technology education in the country.

The association specifically asked the federal government to establish a Federal College of Health to address accreditation challenges being faced by state-owned health colleges.

The chairman of the association, Dr Bayo Ojo, and Public Relations Officer, Mr Nuhu Anyegwu, who said this in a statement made available to the Tribune Online in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Sunday, noted that establishing the college by the federal government would make funding available.

The association noted that all the Colleges of Health Sciences and Technology in the country were state-owned, established in 1976 when the federal government adopted the policy of primary healthcare delivery system.

The statement said, “Right from that time up till now, those schools have not been accredited due to poor funding. If they were established by the federal government, there would have been funding coming from different quarters”.

It added that it was wrong for the federal government to have left the establishment of well-funded Federal College of Health Sciences and Technology for sustainable high-level training of middle cadre health personnel, successive administrations for state governments to shoulder.

“In this country, we have both Federal and state universities, Colleges of Education, Polytechnics and other institutions of higher learning but there is no Federal College of Health, anyone you see is state-owned and they are characterized by poor funding,” Ojo said.

The association stated that the Federal College of Health Sciences and Technology being proposed would run courses and programmes in Community Health, Pharmacy Technician and Medical Laboratory technician.

Others are programmes in Ophthalmology technician, X-Ray technician, Public Health, Dental technician and dental technology as well as medical imagery and Bio-statistics.

In same vein, the association also charged the West Africa Health Examinations Board (WAHEB) to stop further ban of Environment Health programmes being run by the colleges over alleged examination malpractices.

According to the, the association at its last meeting held in Abuja, frowned at the development, warning that it would be dealing with the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) in the situation persist.