Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has urged medical doctors to work harmoniously with all other members of the health team for better results.

The Governor gave the advice during the 2023 Faculty Day Lecture of the Faculty of Public Health and Community Medicine, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria held in Ilorin.

Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, who commended the Faculty and health specialists for their great efforts in saving humanity at every turn, called on relevant stakeholders in the health sector to strengthen mechanisms towards taming public health issues around the world.

He noted that the lecture came at the right time as it draw attention of the policy makers on the need for adequate budgeting and appropriation to health sector and commended the organisers.

The Faculty Chairman, Dr Chikaike Ogbonna applauded Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq administration’s commitment to the sector through investments in infrastructure, payment of counterpart funds, and improved welfare of health sector workers, including the recent approval of 100% CONMESS and skipping allowance for medical doctors and consultants in the state.

In a lecture entitled, “Leading outbreak Response in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: The Excitements, The Frustrations, and The Lessons Learned”, a Professor of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Adedeji Onayade, identified limited resources, strained facilities, communication barriers, the rapid spread of false information through the social media as some of the challenges in executing effective response in disease outbreaks.

Professor Adedeji Onayade also described disease outbreak as a security issue and called on policymakers to maximize the large pool of expertise available in the departments of community health/Medicine within the tertiary institutions during outbreak of diseases.

He, however, stressed that responses to outbreaks in Nigeria had witnessed remarkable advancement with the establishment of National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and many more isolation centres, public health laboratories with standard operating procedures.

Stakeholders in the health sector and royal fathers including the Emir of Tsonga, Dr Haliru Yahaya who is the royal father of the day graced the occasion.