Federal Government, through Tertiary Education Trust Fund, will build a 168-room ultra-modern hostel for University of Lagos (UNILAG) medical students.

Speaking at the groundbreaking and site handover at the proposed site of the hostel in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Chief Executive of Colton Construction, the contractor, Dr. Anthony Ajulo, said the project will be first at UNILAG.

He explained that the project is in line with Federal Government’s objectives of increasing doctors and nurses produced annually in the country.

“This is an ultra-modern student hostel. It is self-contained.

‘‘It will have 168 rooms, and it is three floors. And it is the first in a long time at UNILAG. This is in line with Federal Government’s objective of increasing number of medical graduates and doctors to be produced,” Ajulo said.

He noted one of the challenges, particularly in a city like Lagos, is student accommodation, adding each hostel room will house two students.

“So, this is going to help a lot to achieve the goal of producing 1,000 doctors per year. It is expected to be completed in 24 months,” he added.

Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, lauded the development, saying the institution is taking steps to train and retain medical workforce in Nigeria.

“The country has a challenge in retaining health care workforce, and it behoves us to also train more; the need for more health care workforce has been one that’s been for a long time.

“For a country of 226 million, having only 150 doctors, and about 50 nurses of the University of Lagos in a year is not the best; we’re constrained by infrastructure, because you can’t train health care personnel without having a hostel close to a hospital, because they go for call at night, ” she said.

He noted that the health care workforce cannot be trained adequately without faculty, labs and classrooms, because it is a very hands-on mentorship-based programme.

The Principal Partner of Colton Construction Limited, Dr. Collins Balogun, said the goal is to increase the number of medical doctors produced in the country to tackle brain drain.

“The goal of the President is to increase the number of medical doctors we have in the country because, you know, over the years, we have been experiencing brain drain. And the President has given a marching order that universities should be producing a minimum of 20,000 medical doctors every year,” he stated.

He highlighted that to achieve that; infrastructure has to be improved. Balogun added that when completed, the structure is going to bring a lot of comfort to the students.

“This is a 100 percent Federal Government project, a TETFUND project. As I told you, it is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda. So, it falls under the direct instruction of Mr. President to increase the total number of medical doctors we are going to have in Nigeria,” noted Balogun, who disclosed that there are plans to extend projects like this to other parts of the country.