The Federal Government has announced plans to establish world-class medical simulation centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones to improve practical training for the country’s growing healthcare workforce.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while receiving the report of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Medical Simulation Committee.
He described the proposed centres as essential to equipping students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and other allied health professions with practical skills.
The initiative comes as enrolment in health-related programmes continues to increase significantly.
Alausa disclosed that nursing enrolment had risen from about 38,000 students three years ago to more than 120,000, while annual medical school admissions had increased from approximately 5,000 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office to nearly 12,000 currently.
He said the government was targeting about 20,000 annual medical student admissions within the next three years, making improved practical training facilities increasingly important.
“Our goal in the next three years will increase the number of annual medical student enrollment in medical school to about 20,000,” he said.
The minister also said admissions into pharmacy and dental programmes had doubled, stressing that the expansion in enrolment must be accompanied by investments in the quality of training.
According to him, the simulation centres would bridge the gap between classroom teaching and clinical practice by providing students with controlled environments where they could acquire practical skills before interacting with patients.
“I would like to thank the members of the committee that has worked so hard and assiduously to get us to this point in which we are now talking about building several simulation centres across the country to provide world-class training for our medical students, dental students, nursing students, pharmacy students and other allied healthcare professionals,” Alausa said.
The minister commended the Chairman of the Medical Simulation Committee, Dr Wale Suleiman, and other members for developing the framework for the project.
The committee also drew expertise from professional and regulatory bodies, including the Medical and Dental Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, alongside representatives from academia.
Alausa said the project reflected the Federal Government’s commitment to improving educational standards while expanding Nigeria’s healthcare workforce.
He assured that the government would continue supporting the development of the TETFund Medical Simulation Centres across the six geopolitical zones.
The minister said the expansion of health professional education was already producing results, adding that the government remained focused on developing the human capital required to drive national development.
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