Medical researcher seeks improved funding for healthcare

Medical researcher seeks improved funding for healthcare

Tuesday, July 23, 2019 7:21 pm


Health


A professor of medicine, Ikechi Okpechi, on Tuesday in Ibadan called for improved funding into research that would translate into better healthcare delivery in the country.

Okpechi, a researcher at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, made the call at a special lecture and book presentation to commemorate the 60th birthday anniversary of the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Prof. Babatunde Salako.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture was entitled: ” Cutting Edge Research in Non-Communicable Disease in Low and Medium Income countries: Raising the Bar.”

Okepchi said that recognising the impact of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) including hypertension and kidney failure on socioeconomic development was important to reduce its growing public health burden.

“Researchers also have responsibility of making sure that they carry out research that have impacts on the lives of people, and not just be concerned about the numbers of their published works.

“Transnational research is an important factor in speeding up scientific discovery into patient and community benefit,” he said.

In his remarks, Salako said that carrying out high quality research by healthcare institutions requires huge financial commitment from the government and private organisations interested in the socioeconomic development of the country.

According to him, inadequate funding for medical research poses a serious challenge for the research institution in making cutting edge discoveries in healthcare delivery.

He said that medical research forms an integral part of scientific innovation and would consequently improve healthcare delivery outcomes as well as facilitates the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, described the celebrator as a resilient man who had exhibited a high sense of commitment to excellence in every facet of his life.


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