By Mary Obaebor

The Founder of the Eko University Medical and Health Sciences, EkoUnimed, Chief Dr Hammed Ayodele Ibraheem, has said his intervention in medical education which led to the setting up of the institution was borne out of the need to give back to the society and also help in producing the needed manpower that will provide quality health care services to the people.

He stated this during the fourth matriculation ceremony of the specialised university in Lagos.

“I saw the need to give back to the society and help the people of Lagos State and Nigeria in general and as medical doctor, I took up the challenge of setting up the first privately owned medical university in Nigeria. With a huge population of close to 200 million, we only have 34 medical schools in the county. That is not enough.

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“Also, our medical schools have produced about 70,000 doctors and most of them are abroad. We have to stem that tide and we need to produce medical doctors with the best of training equipment and we are on course doing that. We will soon start work on a Medical Research Hospital Complex which will be the envy of people,” he said.

Ibraheem, a United States-based medical doctor, commended a number of Nigerian medical gurus who helped drew up the academic curriculum of the school.

He also poured encomiums on the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olusoga Sofola, under whose watch the National Universities Commission, NUC, gave the school final accreditation, while the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, also accredited the school.

In his speech, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. A B. Ejiwunmi, expressed gladness that the first set of students have taken their first professional examination.

He charged the new intakes to face their studies squarely, urging them to take full advantage of the opportunities the school would offer them.

“Read widely and reflect deeply as you recognise the best relationships that will help you not to repeat your mistakes and be strong enough to respond to opportunities that will come your way,” he said.

EkoUnimed runs programmes in the fields of medicine, surgery anatomy, physiology, medical biochemistry, pharmacy, dentistry and nursing.