By Godfrey AKON
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, says it is making provision for a Special Intervention in Medical Simulation and Innovation in 2025.
Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, said the move, which is part of the fund’s commitment to support government’s efforts to transform Nigeria’s healthcare system, would among other things, address patient safety and quality of care.
Masari disclosed this while inaugurating the Adhoc Committee on Medical Simulation and Innovation Special Intervention on Tuesday in Abuja.
He emphasized the importance of medical training and research as critical to the sustenance of any society.
He said considering the state of our public healthcare system, investment in healthcare innovation is urgently needed in Nigeria’s healthcare system to leapfrog to world-class medical practice.
“Thus, two areas of healthcare innovation would make the biggest impact namely medical simulation and digital health (telemedicine and remote patient care). Investment in these two critical areas of medical innovation simultaneously is essential for maximum benefits.
“Simulation-based learning is a state-of-the-art approach to the education and training of healthcare personnel across all fields of medicine. It offers a unique opportunity to create realistic scenarios where healthcare professionals can practice their skills in a safe and controlled environment.
“Common medical situations or scenarios can also be simulated to increase proficiency and patient safety. The ultimate goals are to enhance critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities, thereby improving patient safety, reducing medical errors, and saving lives,” he said.
Speaking on the benefits of medical simulation, he said it would address patient safety and quality of care, reduce unsafe practices that can lead to serious morbidities and/or mortality, and save costs of healthcare by reducing medical errors which can be very costly Reduce preventable medical errors.
He further noted that medical simulation would “address manpower shortage in Nigeria with a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:9083 by upskilling healthcare workers (WHO recommends a 1:600 ratio)
Support efforts to migrate to an integrated medical curriculum
Improve proficiency in several clinical skills by medical graduates rather than mere acquisition of knowledge.
“Digital healthcare (Telemedicine and remote patient care) would significantly improve access to medical care by Nigerians using digital platforms that allow medical practitioners to examine and treat patients at any distance.
“Improvements in wifi technology and data penetration would enable these efforts. Patients in remote areas and small cities can be reviewed by experienced medical experts from anywhere in Nigeria, and in fact, the entire world.”
Other benefits include: AI-enabled technology would further enhance telemedicine platforms, especially in the areas of interpretation of medical diagnostics, procedures, and surgeries.
He said the Ad-Hoc Committee is chaired by a world-renowned Neurosurgeon, Prof. Wale Sulaiman.
Other members of the committee are Prof. Enoch Uche, Dr. Kabir Mustapha, Prof. Hadiza Shehu Galandanci, Dr. Lawrence Eziashi Appah, Prof. Babagana Bako, and Dr. Femi Owagbemi as Secretary.
According to Masari, members of the Committee were carefully selected based on their individual capacities as professionals who will work collectively as a team to deliver on the task.
He said the committee has eight weeks to among other things, conduct a gap analysis of medical simulation in Nigeria, as well as conduct a gap analysis in healthcare innovation in Nigeria, especially around telemedicine, virtual patient care and remote patient monitoring.
It is also saddled with the responsibility to “analyse identified gaps and prepare a proposal on how to: Bridge identified gaps in medical simulation and telemedicine Improve medical education, training, and patient care based on identified community needs and population health statistics using medical simulation and innovation.”
The BoT Chairman also announced that the fund is sponsoring the provision of four central multi-purpose laboratories in University of Lagos, Bayero University, Kano, University of Port Harcourt and University of Abuja, under its 2023 and 2024 interventions.
He said the labs are part of the key research facilities needed to promote the creation of enabling environment to enhance impactful and innovative research outputs.
According to him, the facilities would also reduce the need for researchers to visit overseas institutions for bench-work and other critical research activities.
He further disclosed that the fund is sponsoring the upgrade of equipment in laboratories and workshops for 18 universities and 30 Polytechnics/Colleges of Education, Technical, under the 2024 intervention.
He explained that the move is part of its efforts towards enhancing research facilities and infrastructure in its beneficiary institutions.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, said effort was being made to improve the enrollment of staff in medical faculties, adding that the simulation technology will assist regulatory institutions in Medical and Dental Council to increase the quota of each institution for more intakes.
“Medicine and Health Sciences remain the single most sought out programmes by students based on JAMB records in our tertiary institutions and currently less than 7% of those who qualify get admitted because of this constraint,” Echono said.
On his part, the Chairman of the committee, Suleiman, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, expressed gratitude for their appointment and pledged to deliver on the assignment.
