A bill for the establishment of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA Teaching Hospital was read for the first time at the Plenary session of the 9th senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the fourth business of the day on the 18th of February,2021. The bill titled, “Federal University of Technology Akure Teaching Hospital Establishment Bill 2021 (SB638)” was sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure, representing Ondo Central Senatorial District with the Senate president Senator Ahmed Lawan presiding.
The process for the establishment of the FUTA Teaching Hospital was initiated through the commencement of the School of Health and Health Technology in the 2015/2016 academic session. This followed the National Universities Commission’s approval granted to the University to establish a School of Health and Health Technology with programs in Basic Medical Sciences in December 2014. The school has programmes in anatomy, physiology and biomedical technology. The school will eventually incorporate the proposed College of Medicine and Teaching Hospital. Funding for the project will be provided through the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) by an approval granted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2019.
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Fuwape, said FUTA has the School of Health Sciences which included College of Medicine in its foundational mandate. He said the realization of the FUTA Teaching Hospital would contribute to the efforts at improving the living standards of Nigerians by improving Medicare through training of medical doctors and allied professionals. He said the pressure of admission quota would also be taken off existing teaching hospitals by universities that are willing and ready to run medical programmes.
According to the Vice Chancellor, “The recent cases of public health challenges – Ebola virus, Lassa fever and Covid-19 – have further revealed the need to pay greater attention to health and medical training. Even the most advanced of nations in terms of orthodox medicine struggled pitifully against the Covid-19 pandemic and that is an eye opener for us as a nation to rejig our health sector both in terms of infrastructure and personnel. A college of medicine in FUTA would certainly be a step in the right direction.”