German Varsity to Boost Capacity Building in Thompson & Grace Medical Varsity

The proposed Thompson & Grace Medical University (TGMU), Nigeria may have taken off on a sound academic footing as a German institution, the University of Hamburg (UKE), Germany has confirmed its willingness, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to partner the university’s proprietors to “design and operate the medical facilities.”

Disclosing this on Friday at a seminar titled, ‘How Education, Health, and Medicine Can be Transformed to Benefit Nigeria and Africa’, held at the Le Meridien, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, President/Chief Executive Officer of Thompson & Grace Investment Limited, Dr. Isaac Thompson Amos said that his group of companies have earlier in the week signed MoU with the German University to partner to “consult in the design and operation” of Thompson & Grace Medical University, and Thompson & Grace Specialty Hospital (TGSH), which is sited at Afahan Obong, Uyo. The MoU was signed at the office of the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck on Monday in Abuja, he disclosed.

While Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Uwe Koch-Gromus, Dean of the Medical Faculty of the UKE, Germany, signed on behalf of his institution, Dr. Amos signed on behalf of his Group in the presence of Schlagheck; Prof. Dr. med. Ansgar Wilhelm Lohse, Vice Dean, Medical Faculty of the UKE; Prof. Dr. med. Frank Nobert Riedet, foremost Paediatrician and former Medical Director of the Altona Children’s Hospital, Hamburg, Germany; Mr. Armin Huttenlocher, CEO of RES Public Affairs, Corporate Affairs and Consultant to the project from Berlin, Germany; Mr. Ekemini Amos, Projects/Technical Services of TGIL; and Dr. Emmanuel Umoh, PMP, President/CEO of XEQ Solutions, Plano, Texas, USA, among others.
The MoU document was formally presented to him at the seminar in Uyo by Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Uwe Koch-Gromus.

Amos disclosed that the partnership would enable both parties to jointly “develop and provide structure, curriculum and practical program as well as administrative and management processes for the Medical University and Specialty Hospital.” These medical facilities would also enjoy “training and support in capacity building in the areas of medical education, clinical research and healthcare delivery processes and procedures as well as healthcare management and administration,” Dr. Amos said.

He noted that the partnership would enable the health facilities to benefit from “increased number of highly trained and competent physicians, other healthcare professionals and facilities to meet the health needs of a rapidly changing Nigerian society.”

Also speaking at the seminar, Koch-Gromus noted that “the UKE, located in Hamburg, Germany and T&GIL, with head office located in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria, signed the MoU for the development of academic cooperation in international education in areas of mutual interest and expertise.”

He noted that the “collaboration established by this MoU will enhance the intellectual life and cultural development at both institutions, and will contribute to increased international cooperation.”

In his presentation a Professor of Paediatrics, Prof. Emmanuel E. Ekanem, University of Calabar said at the seminar, that Nigeria, like many parts of the developing world, is undergoing epidemiological transition from predominantly infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). He observed that with an estimated population of over 180 million, the impact of this transition is potentially a lot more challenging than in many other parts of the world, hence the idea of a medical university is a welcomed phenomenon.