By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
The Government of Anambra State under the leadership of Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo is working to deliberately position Anambra State as an important medical training hub in Africa.
With federal and state-owned accredited medical training institutions and a handful of privately-owned training institutions, Anambra has an advantage in human capital, specifically in training healthcare providers who are in high global demand. Governor Soludo’s government is poised to explore Anambra’s comparative advantage in human capital and prepare Anambra “for transition to a post-oil Nigeria,” Governor Soludo argued in his manifesto.
More specifically, Governor Soludo’s People’s Manifesto under its Social Agenda outlined human resources as a key focus in reaching the secondary and tertiary healthcare goals of his administration. To this end, the manifesto highlighted the importance of human resources in healthcare through training, attracting, retaining, and motivating medical personnel in Anambra State. This is the force behind the Governor’s bold vision of the ongoing construction of a new Anambra State University of Medical Sciences.
Speaking about the ongoing construction of the University of Medical Sciences, the Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike, pointed out that Anambra State is moving towards the trajectory of becoming a crucial medical training hub in Africa. According to Dr. Obidike, “Anambra State will become the highest producer of quality healthcare professionals in Africa between the next 5 and 10 years.” Only about three weeks ago, the Government of Anambra State signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian Education Council for international exposure of nursing students in Anambra State-owned School of Nursing, Nkpor. With these developments, Anambra is positioning itself as a major source of global-quality human capital in medical sciences.
Governor Soludo’s deliberate investment in human capital development, specifically in the training of quality medical scientists, speaks to his vision of moving Anambra State from a departure lounge to a destination. With a new standard medical training institute that adds to the existing institutes, more medical professionals will be trained to meet the high demand for medical practitioners globally. Importantly, with global-quality healthcare specialists, Anambra is not only becoming a destination, but a sought-after destination in meeting the global high demand for skilled medical professionals.
In Anambra State today, there is also a sustained private investment in standard laboratories and clinics. These investments signal a convergence and an inevitable transition of Anambra into a serious regional medical hub. The development will eventually reinforce Anambra’s imminent dominance of the medical field, in training and quality service delivery in a few years. Both the government and private investments in quality healthcare provision and medical training will meet to build a viable medical ecosystem that can command global attention in a matter of a few years ahead.
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