Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has explained that his promise that the state government would employ the first set of medical graduates of Ekiti State University (EKSU) was borne out of his desire to encourage the young graduates and other youths that ‘there will always be light at the end of every dark tunnel’.
The 43 pioneer medical graduates were inducted into the medical profession in Ado-Ekiti on Monday, following full accreditation of the medical college.
Speaking at the induction programme, Fayemi reinstated his promise that the government would employ as many of them that would want to work with the State after their house-job and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
The injection of the new doctors into health institutions in the state, according to the governor, will help the administration’s plan for an excellent health care delivery.
The governor, who noted the delay in the accreditation of the college which made the student spend 10 years for the six-year course, however, commended the students for their resilience.
He said the students would have been “saved the pain and frustration they experienced” if the immediate past administration had provided support for the College of Medicine where he stopped in 2014.
Fayemi said the student were likely to have stayed longer if his administration had not come on board in 2018 to provide the necessary support that made the final MDCN accreditation possible.
“I recall that the graduating students were barely a year in school when my government came into office in October 2019 and by the time we left in 2014, the basic medical programme was accredited, the physiology and biochemistry laboratory buildings were completed, the medical hostel was built and majority of the departments at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital had received accreditation.”
“If the succeeding administration had paid equal attention to the College of Medicine, the credit of graduating this first set of students would have gone to that administration while the students and their parents would have been saved the pain and frustration they experienced on this journey”, he said.
While justifying the attention given to the College of Medicine by his administration, the governor said the College as well as the State University Teaching Hospital would greatly contribute to the successful implementation of the health policies of his government for the benefit of the citizenry.
Fayemi stated that his administration would continue to take proactive steps to deepen preventive healthcare programmes.
He disclosed that the state government has keyed into the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund to rapidly increase coverage of high impact health interventions.
The governor charged the new doctors not to rest on their oars but put in their best to ensure quality healthcare delivery.
Fayemi also acknowledged the roles played by the Segun Oni-led administration in ensuring that the College took off in 2009, having passed through the appropriate legislative hurdles.
In her speech, the acting Vice Chancellor of Ekiti State University, Prof. Olubunmi Ajayi, thanked Fayemi for providing the logistics and financial support for the final accreditation of the College of Medicine.
The acting Vice Chancellor said the governor had come to the school’s rescue when it was at a “crossroads due to financial constraints and the graduation of our medical students was becoming an albatross”; adding that the governor’s gesture would continue to be a ” timeless memento “.
Ajayi equally thanked the governor’s wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, for sponsoring some of the indigent students in the College of Medicine.
Earlier, the Provost of the College, Prof. Kehinde Oluwadiya, had disclosed that the immediate past administration “made it clear that it was not ready to fund” the final accreditation despite the fact that the University and parents of the medical students had done their best.
Oluwadiya said Fayemi’s uncommon interest in the medical college was demonstrated when he approved all that the College needed for the final accreditation within 3 weeks.
Also speaking, the best graduating student, Dr Iyanu Bankole, thanked the governor for rescuing the students from years of frustration and hopelessness.
Bankole described Fayemi as a man with a large heart; adding that his support gave all the final year medical students the opportunity to face their final examination without worries.
