The University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) Ondo City, Ondo State, Nigeria on Thursday, June 13, 2024, entered into a partnership with the West African College of Physicians (WACP) for the training of Medical doctors in PhD in Clinical Studies.

National Chairman and Vice President of WACP, Dr. Jeremiah Aboi Madanaki, said “the partnership with the university sought to provide a PhD that would make available a set of skills that were complementary to the professional training of medical doctors in Nigeria in particular and West Africa in general.

Madanaki said this during a meeting and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for PhD program in Clinical Sciences, held at the university, in Ondo.

He noted that WACP was a specialized agency of the West African Health Organizations charged with the responsibility of training postgraduate medical doctors.

According to him “the institution trained doctors in six specialties of Family Medicine, Community Health, Laboratory Medicine, External Medicine, Psychiatry and Pediatric.

“We already have what we call the fellowship program which is the professional training of the doctors to allow those human resources to provide high-quality services.

“What we seek in the PhD in Clinical Studies is to look at those complementary skills that could further enhance what we do as professional doctors.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, said the institution has the resources in terms of human resources and infrastructure to embark on the programme.

Fatusi said the curriculum to implement the programme was ready based on the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) criteria.

According to him “UNIMED is the first university that WACP is signing this MOU with.

“In a world where there is a greater drive for science research component, that is where this complementary partnership is coming in and we are very ready as a university because we have the resources in terms of human resources and infrastructures.

“I want to say that we have also started test-running this because we have the pilot programme.

“We are proudly again the only university in West Africa to have signed a partnership with the West Africa College of Surgeons which is the brother to WACP.

“WACP is coming in just to deepen, to strengthen and to broaden what we are doing.

“The advantage in this partnership is that if people come to do this postgraduate, they don’t need to rely on just our own staff to be their supervisor, we are bringing in all the expertise that is available in WACP, to support this.

“It is beyond what you can get in any university because of that unique partnership and strength that we are bringing in and wild dimensions of experience and expertise that is going to come to this partnership.

The Vice-Chancellor added, “It is a partnership like none and a partnership that will drive the health professionals in Nigeria forward and everyone will be a winner, not just in our university and in WACP, but also in our nation and entire countries across West Africa.”