Faduyile advocates quality medical education as condition for UHC

By Steve Ovirih.

Distinguished Senator Prof. Dayo Faduyile, OON has described quality Medical Education as a pillar for achieving Universal Health Coverage(UHC), calling on Nigerian ivory towers to produce quality health workers to achieve the health coverage scheme.

Senator Faduyile made this known at the 9th Felix Oladejo Dosekun Memorial Lecture of the College of Medicine of The University of Lagos, which held on Thursday,8th October,2026.

The Lecture held in honour of Late Professor Felix Oladejo Dosekun, first Vice -Dean of the University of Lagos Medical School, who also doubled as first Deputy Provost College of Medicine of the University of Lagos in his life time. Professor Dosekun eventually became first Emeritus Professor, University of Lagos.

Senator Prof.Dayo Faduyile in his lecture interrogated the ideal Doctor required for universal health coverage if the nation must access quality health care, stressing the fact that inadequately trained health personnel on one hand and access to health coverage with less professional medics defeat the intent of universal health coverage. “Today, I want us to begin with a very simple question: what kind of doctor does Universal Health Coverage require? Not simply how many doctors do we need, not just about how many medical schools and not even how many doctors are we graduating every year rather, what kind of doctor must we produce,” he inquired.

He insisted that if health care professionals under the health coverage are not up to the set out tasks of the scheme, it will result in delayed diagnosis, prescription of wrong medication, enabling dangerous conditions, poor patient/doctor communication,little or no appreciation of preventive care and little understanding of patient’s social circumstances, adding that beyond the need to pay attention to Universal Health Coverage, quality Medical Education is a necessity for achieving the idea.

While noting that there are competencies that remain fundamental for a Doctor worth the calling, the modern physician must be a clinician, a scientist, a communicator, an advocate, a leader, an innovator and a lifelong learner. He noted that to foster universal health coverage health personnel must embrace the fact that they are professionals who are aware that Medicine is not merely about treating disease but more about improving human life. “The modern physician must be a clinician, who provides safe and effective care; a scientist, a communicator, a public health practitioner, an advocate, a leader, an innovator and a lifelong learner because medical knowledge is changing faster than ever before,” Senator Faduyile noted.

The Professor of Pathology and Forensic Medicine charged Medical schools to produce doctors that the nation’s health system needs and not just to reproduce doctors the educational systems have historically produced.

Prof.Faduyle maintained that quality medical education is a tool for health equity, noting that improving it is not the responsibility of medical school alone as it equally requires the quality inputs of governments and policy makers.

The Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof.Ademola Oremosu said the first Dosekun Memorial Lecture was in 2001 and ever since the academic convergence has waxed stronger in the memory of the erudite medical scholar. “This bi- annual Lecture started in 2001.It is an endeavor conceived several years ago to immortalize a collosus , the Late Professor Felix Oladejo Dosekun, the foundation Vice -Dean of The University of Lagos, Medical School which later became the College of Medicine,” Prof.Oremosu stated.

In corroborating the guest lecturer, Prof.Oremosu said Universal Health Coverage is not just about building hospitals or buying equipment but about competent, compassionate and confident health personnel who are well trained to handle what they see.

The lecture featured presentation of plaque to Senator Prof.Faduyile in recognition of his contribution to the medical profession while Dr.Olayinka Obafemi -Moses got Long service award of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos.