FG to establish Biomedical Engineering programme to address medical equipment deficit -Pate

The Federal Government says it will establish a National Biomedical Engineering programme that will address the deficit in medical equipment maintenance.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, said this on Saturday in Abuja after a tour of the National Hospital, Abuja (NHA).
Pate said that he recognises that some of the infrastructure in the hospital are more than 20 years old and challenged because of the volume of use, time and nature taking its course.
“Overtime things just get aged, you have many equipment that have been here over many years and are not functional, very important equipments.
“Some for cancer care, they are old and need replacement, some for radiology that are old and some are not functional or just out-dated.
That’s a very clear issue and we need to find a way to solve that in a significant way,” he said.
He, however, said that the issue of equipment and maintenance is not peculiar to NHA alone, but he also saw similarities in the other tertiary hospitals he had visited.
“So we will in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare establish a National Biomedical Engineering programme that will try to begin to address the deficit in equipment maintenance,” he said.