Bill to establish FUTA Teaching Hospital passes second reading

A bill for an act to establish the Federal University of Technology, Akure Teaching Hospital, has passed the second reading in the Senate.

The passage followed the presentation of the general principles of the bill by its sponsor, Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire (APC, Ondo Central) during Wednesday’s plenary.

Adegbonmire noted that “In 2010, the National University Commission, NUC, gave final approval for the commencement of a course in Medicine and Surgery, MBBS programme, by the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, with effect from the 2020-2021 academic session.”

He further said that the students of FUTA, which runs a medical and surgery programme, are now approaching the clinical years, which they have to spend in a teaching hospital, a facility that the institution did not have.

According to him, the university is presently in the process of signing a memorandum of understanding, MOU, with the Ondo State Government to allow its students to temporarily use the state’s General Hospital in Akure.

The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, after the bill was read the second time, referred it to the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, for further legislative inputs. He directed that the bill be returned to plenary in four weeks.