To enhance the country’s surgical outcomes for children, the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Chris Bode, has urged for the promotion of training frontline health workers on early recognition and correct care of pediatric surgical crises.
Bode argued that investing in the surgical treatment of children is a smart choice to secure a healthy future for Nigeria during his inaugural Lecture Series 2022 at the University of Lagos, with the theme: “Bloom Where You Are Planted: From Paediatric Surgeon To Hospital Administration.”
Children’s health should not be treated as an afterthought that is grafted onto the strategy for adults, according to Bode.
Surgical facilities in such facilities will save the lives of many who have been denied access to and delayed surgical care in the country’s overburdened centers, according to him. He claimed that Nigeria needs children-specific hospitals that are fully dedicated to the care of children.
He asserted that if the appropriate things are done and investments are made effectively, the government would receive large tax returns from the sector.
Bode went on to say in his 120-page lecture that Nigeria must continue to invest in the training of specialists in the various surgical specialties, put a plan in place to absorb them, and nurture the individuals they produce rather than allowing them to be attracted abroad by more prosperous countries that can pay them more.
He further urged the government to defiantly deregulate the financing of public university education and limit its role to the formulation of overall policy, giving grants to institutions, awarding scholarships, bursaries, and loans to students while allowing public educational institutions to charge fair tuition for quality instruction.
