- The decision is aimed at enhancing the training of health professionals and address the problem of brain drain in the health sector.
The Lagos State government says plans are underway to establish a medical university in the State.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu made this known at the inauguration of the Femi Gbajabiamila General Hospital on Tuesday in Surulere, Lagos.
According to him, the decision is aimed at enhancing the training of health professionals and address the problem of brain drain in the health sector.
The governor said the university would be established before the end of 2024 in collaboration with the federal government.
He called on his colleagues in other States of the federation to sieze the initiative and follow his footsteps.
“We found out that working with the Federal Ministry of Health, we need to scale up very aggressively all of our training and all of the youths to be trained in everything within our health space.
“We cannot sit back and fold our arms as a government that cannot intervene. And so we will, as a state, hope that other states will take this initiative and set up similar universities to be able to scale up and have between 1,000 and 1,500 doctors graduating every year.
“And this will also stem, in our view, the trend of medical personnel leaving our country,”, Mr Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor hailed the chief of staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila, for facilitating and handing over the secondary health facility to the state government, saying the hospital would improve access to healthcare.
At the inauguration, Gbajabiamila said the hospital was one of the many projects he had facilitated in Surulere and other parts of the state.
He said the facility, formerly a primary health centre, was equipped with a dialysis centre, CT scan, alternative power and many more to benefit the people of Surulere.
He thanked the people of Surulere for their consistent support, promising to do his best to impact lives in the area.