Speeches

26th Annual Congress & Convocation Ceremonies Of The National Postgraduate Medical College Of Nigeria

Sep 18, 2008 - Given the place and role of medicine in our lives, it is vital that medical education be done with seriousness and diligence in an environment that is conducive and equipped with the required infrastructure and manpower.

The consistent manner in which the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria has been discharging its responsibilities of training specialists in the profession year in year out amidst increasing running and overhead costs is not just a display of sound professionalism, but also a patriotic attitude which deserves commendation.

Let me therefore thank the College president, the Governing Board and the Senate for holding aloft the ideals for which this college was established 26 years ago. There is no doubt that the ratio of doctor to patients in our country is abysmally low and there is therefore the urgent need to address the problem to keep pace with the increasing health needs of our country’s ever increasing population.

Indeed, the continued demand for many of our specialists in virtually many areas of medicine abroad is enough proof that the standard of medical postgraduate training is this College is high and of world standard.

Health is a crucial factor in the country’s plan to meet its Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2020 as a healthy citizenry is the foundation for the successful implementation of the social and economic policies and programmes of government.

The contribution of this College to the successful implementation of the health-care policies and programmes of governments in the coming years will definitely increase as we strive to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal in the area of health.

I congratulate today’s graduands especially on their commitment and dedication shown during their studies. Your profession demands of you, honesty, focus, patience and compassion. As you go into the world to practice your profession, I urge you to do so with the diligence and dedication for which this College is known and has produced over 3,000 other graduands before you.

Your primary focus would be to assist the governments fulfill their obligations on primary health care delivery for our people. The secondary and tertiary healthcare system will need your experience and expertise to achieve maximum success. That way you would have justified your training at this College of which you are an ambassador from today.

Distinguished Guests, ladies and gentlemen, there is a health challenge posed to the country today by the continued prevalence of malaria which is ravaging our people. Let me use this forum to again challenge all of you in this profession especially the graduands that our government is ready to fund the research that will find a permanent cure for malaria. It is obvious that mosquitoes nets and pharmaceuticals have not given us a permanent reprieve from this deadly scourge.

It is peculiar to our people and indeed the African Continent; hence we must take up the challenge with the support of World Health Organization and other such agencies.

In closing let me use this opportunity to call on all stakeholders and the well endowed among us to support this College with the required facilities and amenities to enable it discharge its mandate adequately. The era of waiting for government to finance and fund projects alone belongs to the past, even in the developed world where the Public- Private Initiative is being deployed for purposes of infrastructural renewal and project execution.

The door of the Lagos State Government is open to entertain any assistance that may be required of us. We are committed to improve on our proactive and functional healthcare policies to deliver on our promise to improve the quality of life of our people.

In conclusion, I would urge you to use the occasion of this year’s congress to come up with suggestions that will help to move our health policies in Nigeria forward.

Once again, I congratulate the Board and Management of the College and our graduands. I wish you all successes in your future endeavours.

I thank you all for listening.

“Eko O ni baje O!”

Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
Governor of Lagos State