RSG To Partner Surgeons’ College For Capacity Dev

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that his administration will collaborate and partner the International College of Surgeons (ICS) in training quality post graduate and specialist doctors in the state.
The governor has, therefore, called on qualified surgeons in the association to be ready to take up research and teaching appointments in the proposed College of Health Sciences in the Rivers State University of Science and technology (RSUST).
Wike stated this while declaring open the 49th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the association yesterday in Port Harcourt.
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr. Ipalibo Harry Banigo, said ignorance was a major factor militating against the treatment of cancer cases, especially in the rural areas.
“As a responsive government, we are not unaware of the challenges facing healthcare delivery system in Rivers State, particularly the shortage of highly skilled surgeons and other manpower”, he said.
The governor, therefore, called for concerted action from stakeholders in tackling the menace and burden of cancer in Nigeria, and commended the organizers for drawing national and global attention to the cancer scourge.
In his keynote address, President of International College of Surgeons (ICS), Prof Reginald Ofoegbu, lamented the ugly trend of medical tourism even in areas where competent manpower exist in the country.
Ofoegbu remarked that high level of ignorance still pervades the nation, and urged citizens to help medical professionals by dispelling superstition as cause of ailments.
Earlier in a welcome speech, the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Prof Rollings Jamabo, said the theme of the conference: “Burden of Cancers in Nigeria”, and its sub theme, “Mass casualty Management in Nigeria” were apt following several cases of cancer that impose disproportionate demands on the limited medical services in the nation’s hospitals.
He, therefore, urged the conference participants to proffer ways of enhancing knowledge of management of mass casualty like bomb explosion and explosion and gunshots victims in the Nigerian environment.