Experts Call for Research Funding
Experts in the medical field has called on the government, corporate organisations and well- meaning Nigerians to give medical research and development a priority in the country.
Speaking at the 14th annual scientific conference of the Society of Experimental and Clinical Anatomists of Nigeria (SECAN), themed “Current Trends in Biomedical Research” in Lagos recently, an embryologist, Prof Oladapo Ashiru said more awareness and support for medical education are required to advance Nigeria’s health care.
He said if the needed funding was given to research, especially in anatomy, that it will move health care forward because “anatomists serve as a mechanism for promoting medical education.”
Ashiru explained that Nigeria needs to be at per with advanced countries in terms of anatomical teachings and research, saying the country was lagging behind in that aspect.
According to him, “this would lead to improved understanding of human system as well as human anatomy, and as such ensure longevity and better treatment outcome.
Also speaking at the event, a Professor of Anatomy at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Abayomi Okanlawon, stressed the need for the federal government to provide more research funding to anatomy.
He said the discovery of new medicine and therapies require careful scientific experimentation, development and evaluation, hence the need for continuous research.
“Research is a prerequisite for medical advances. It ensures that health services support improved delivery, access and cost,” he said.
While advising the government to set up research centres across the country to develop the health care industry, Okanlawon also called for public-private partnership (PPP) to promote biomedical research.
“The Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) has been promoting responsible and qualitative research to develop medicine. The future is for biomedical research to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems.
“The knowledge from these researches will be applied to enhance human health and prevention of illness as well as disability,” he said.