…as health training enrolment soars
By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish world-class medical simulation centres across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, in a major push to improve practical training for the country’s rapidly expanding healthcare workforce.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while receiving the report of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Medical Simulation Committee, describing the proposed centres as critical to equipping students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and other allied health professions with hands-on skills.
The development comes against the backdrop of a sharp increase in admission into health-related programmes, with the minister revealing that nursing enrolment has jumped from about 38,000 students three years ago to more than 120,000, while annual medical school admissions have risen from about 5,000 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office to nearly 12,000 currently.
Alausa said the government was targeting a further increase in annual medical student admissions to about 20,000 within the next three years, making the need for modern practical training facilities more urgent.
“Our goal in the next three years will increase the number of annual medical student enrollment in medical school to about 20,000,” he said.
He noted that admissions into pharmacy and dental programmes had also doubled, stressing that the expansion in student numbers must be matched by corresponding investments in the quality of training.
According to him, the proposed simulation centres would help bridge the gap between classroom instruction and real-life clinical practice by providing students with access to modern, controlled environments where they can develop critical skills before treating patients.
The minister said the initiative aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration, particularly its drive to expand Nigeria’s healthcare workforce while improving the quality of education and professional training.
“I would like to thank the members of the committee that has worked so hard and assiduously to get us to this point in which we are now talking about building several simulation centres across the country to provide world-class training for our medical students, dental students, nursing students, pharmacy students and other allied healthcare professionals,” Alausa said.
He commended the Chairman of the Medical Simulation Committee, Dr Wale Suleiman, and other members for their work in developing the framework for the centres.
The committee also drew expertise from key professional and regulatory bodies, including the Medical and Dental Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, as well as academia.
Alausa described the project as another demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to raising educational standards, particularly as Nigeria seeks to produce a larger and better-trained healthcare workforce.
He said the government would continue to support the development of the TETFund Medical Simulation Centres across the geopolitical zones, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that the increasing number of Nigerians entering healthcare professions receive high-quality, practical and globally competitive training.
The minister said the expansion of health professional education was already yielding results, insisting that the government’s focus remained on building the human capital required to drive Nigeria’s future development.
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