Trouble For Igbinedion University Medical Students

•Edo revokes clinical training deal

Medical students of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State are in for a tough time as the state government has terminated an agreement to train them at its specialist hospitals over a N350 million debt.

Commissioner for Information Mr. Louis Odion, at a news conference in Benin city, the state capital, yesterday said the university had not paid anything to the government since the agreement was entered into on September 1, 2006.

He said Governor Adams Oshiomhole approved the termination with immediate effect.

The MoU was entered into on September 1, 2006 under the Lucky Igbinedion administration to enable the Igbinedion University use the state-owned Central Hospital Benin and Stella Obasanjo Hospital for the practicals of its medical students. It was part of the condition demanded by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to grant the Igbinedion University accreditation to train medical students in the clinical specialties.

Odion said: “Consistent with his avowed commitment to the principle of probity, accountability and transparency, Comrade Oshiomhole in 2013 directed the State Ministry of Health to invite the management of Igbinedion University to settle the outstanding liabilities as well as convey to the university management a notification for an upward review of the annual fee to reflect current economic realities.

“However, the university wrote back and offered to pay a ridiculous N50,000 per month for use of the facilities and highly-skilled personnel/consultants at Benin Central Hospital and Stella Obasanjo Hospital.

“Regrettably, concerted efforts made ever since by the State Government to make the management of Igbinedion University to pay the debt that had accumulated over the years and also agree to an upward review of the annual charge have proved abortive.

“In the circumstance, the government is left with no other option than terminate the MOU in public interest. The Ministry of Health has equally been directed to inform the Nigerian University Commission and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria that the Benin Central Hospital and Stella Obasanjo Hospital will no longer be made available for the use of the medical students of Igbinedion University.”

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, said the university was yet to be informed about the decision.

Prof. Osaghae, who spoke in a telephone interview, said the university honoured the terms of the MOU and wondered why the state government would rush to the media instead of writing to the university.

Source: The Nation