By Chinenye Ezenwa
GE Digital Industrial Company has announced the completion of a Biomedical Training Center of Excellence built from a partnership between the GE Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The partnership is in fulfilment of a commitment made by the GE Foundation, to work with other stakeholders to develop a Biomedical Equipment Technician Training (BMET) project in Nigeria that addresses a major need for locally qualified medical technicians to repair and service biomedical equipment. The well-equipped Biomedical School will train and build a sustainable pipeline of skilled biomedical engineers for the country.
The school which was fully equipped by the GE Foundation, was commissioned recently by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole.These technologies will help drive excellence in preventive screening and quality health care for all in Nigeria and the rest of the continent.
Speaking at the commissioning, Adewole lauded the initiative. He commended the GE Foundation – LUTH partnership, saying that more of such partnerships were needed to help develop the Nigerian health sector. He stressed the importance of Biomedical Engineering to the development of Nigeria’s health sector and expressed the belief that the school would contribute significantly to the delivery of quality health care to Nigerians.
He described the project as a dream come true for him and the ministry saying he had been looking forward to the day when such a center would be established in the country. He committed to replicating the GE Biomedical Engineering Training program in other federal schools of Biomedical Engineering across Nigeria.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Professor Chris Bode expressed gratitude to GE and the GE Foundation, and described Biomedical Engineering as a special field that is critical to medical science and saving lives.
“Biomedical engineers are an interesting breed. Often they are needed to bridge traditional engineering skills with medical applications, working hand-in-hand with health-care professionals including physicians, nurses, therapists, and technicians to solve a wide variety of problems. In ensuring that these engineers deliver efficient and effective service, GE and GE Foundationmade commendable effort with the provision of state-of-art equipment to be used for the Biomedical School,” he said.
Eyong Ebai, General Manager, GE Healthcare, West and Central Africa said the completion of the new Biomedical School is a fulfilment of GE’s overall commitment to skills development and job creation in Nigeria through capacity-building programs such as this, that deliver a well-structured curriculum to develop a pipeline of highly skilled technicians.
He disclosed that by December 2017, 60 Biomedical engineersacross 36 private and Public Hospitals in Nigeria will have been trained by the school since the program inception in 2014. This, he said will go a long way in addressing the need for highly skilled medical technicians who support medical practitioners in delivering good quality healthcare in Nigeria.