Newz…as health training enrolment soars By Joseph Erunke, Abuja ABUJA — The Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish six world-class medical simulation centres across the country’s geopolitical zones to improve practical training for Nigeria’s expanding 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. Alausa described the proposed centres as critical to equipping students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and other allied health professions with hands-on skills.
The initiative comes amid a significant increase in admissions into health-related programmes. The minister said 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 about 5,000 when President Bola Tinubu assumed office to nearly 12,000 currently. He said the government was targeting an increase in annual medical school admissions to about 20,000 within the next three years, making modern 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. Alausa added that admissions into pharmacy and dental programmes had also doubled, stressing that the expansion in student numbers must be matched with corresponding investments in the quality of training. According to him, the proposed simulation centres would bridge the gap between classroom instruction and real-life clinical practice by providing students with modern, controlled environments to develop critical skills before treating patients.
He said the initiative aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration, particularly its efforts to expand Nigeria’s healthcare workforce while improving the quality of education and professional training. “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. He commended the Chairman of the Medical Simulati…
…as health training enrolment soars By Joseph Erunke, Abuja The Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish world-class medical simulation centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, in a major push to improve practical training for the country’s rapidly expanding healthcare workforce. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while receiving the report of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Medical Simulation Committee, describing the proposed centres as critical to equipping students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and other allied health professions with hands-on skills. The development comes against the backdrop of a sharp increase in admission into health-related programmes, with the minister revealing that nursing enrolment has jumped from about 38,000 students three years ago to more than 120,000, while annual medical school admissions have risen from about 5,000 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office to nearly 12,000 currently.
Alausa said the government was targeting a further increase in annual medical student admissions to about 20,000 within the next three years, making the need for modern practical training facilities more urgent. He noted that admissions into pharmacy and dental programmes had also doubled, stressing that the expansion in student numbers must be matched by corresponding investments in the quality of training. According to him, the proposed simulation centres would help bridge the gap between classroom instruction and real-life clinical practice by providing students with access to modern, controlled environments where they can develop critical skills before treating patients.
Summary from source