The management of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Ondo State said it had begun to grant its medical students study loans.
It was gathered that the loans were meant for the students who are in final year and find it difficulty to pay their tuition fees.
The Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital, Dr Oluwole Ige, disclosed this at a luncheon organised to celebrate the completion of medical training and examination by the pioneer medical students of the institution.
No fewer than 34 medical students would be graduating from the teaching hospital as pioneer students.
The CMD said, “The institution conceived the study loan facility for the final year medical students of the University of Medical Sciences and the UNIMEDTH. Both institutions designed and formalised student loan bond scheme for final year graduating medical students having challenges or difficulties with the payment of their tuition fees at the stage of writing their final year medical professional examinations to make their dreams become reality.
“The students loan bond scheme was initiated by the teaching hospital management in such a way to eliminate financial barriers which might exclude any final year medical students with outstanding fees not to graduate as a medical doctor.”
He further explained, “The facility is structured in such a way that any student that benefits from the scheme shall be encouraged to do his or her one year housemanship, a post-graduation supervised clinical training programme with UNIMED Teaching Hospital. While in the course of the house job the value of the outstanding fee shall be deducted in piece meal from the monthly allowance granted those in training.”
The UNIMEDTH boss, who promised to make the welfare of the newly medical practitioners a priority, emphasised that the teaching hospital had produced graduate nurses, physiotherapist, medical laboratory scientist among others in keeping with its mandate as teaching hospital.
“The institution has also successfully trained medical consultants in several fields of medicine and surgery. The teaching hospital has also provided platform for training of health personnel for FUTA Medical School, Achievers University, Elizade University and JABU,” Ige stated.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of UNIMED, Professor Adesegun Fatusi, charged the students on the need to be good ambassadors of the university and keep learning . He encouraged them to take advantage of the opportunities in the teaching hospital to train as specialists.
