FG Urges Hospitals to Conduct Regular Equipment Audits, Boost Biomedical Engineers’ Capacity For Improved Healthcare Delivery
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has called on all healthcare institutions across the country to conduct regular audits and maintenance of medical equipment, emphasizing that such measures are vital to improving service delivery and patient outcomes.
The Honourable Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako made the call during the opening ceremony of a five-day Capacity Building Workshop for Biomedical Engineers at the National Hospital, on Tuesday in Abuja.
At the event organized by Healthy Living Communications Limited and, College of Biomedical Engineering and Technology CBET; in partnership with the Hospital Services Department of the Ministry, the Minister who was represented by his Special Assistant, Dr. Babatunde Akinyemi,
stressed that biomedical engineers play a pivotal role in ensuring the optimal functioning of medical devices, noting that even the most advanced machines remain underutilized or dysfunctional without skilled personnel to maintain them.
“This workshop seeks to reawaken the professional consciousness of our biomedical engineers, refresh their technical skills, and reposition them to safeguard our expanding stock of health assets,” Dr. Salako asserted.
He highlighted several strategic initiatives by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, including upgrading teaching facilities at the five Federal Teaching Hospitals in Benin, Lagos, Zaria, Nsukka and Maiduguri that host Schools of Biomedical Engineering
The Ministry, he further stated, has also launched a National Biomedical Equipment Audit and is developing a National Biomedical Equipment Maintenance Framework to ensure preventive maintenance schedules are adopted in Federal Tertiary hospitals and Medical Centres nationwide.
Earlier, the Project Director, Health Living Communications Limited,
Chief Emmanuel Oriakhi, noted that many hospitals have valuable equipment left unused or poorly maintained.
He praised the Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare’s commitment to upgrading biomedical engineering practice, stressing that the program would refresh technical staff, safeguard investments in hospital infrastructure, and promote a culture of maintenance.
The Minister emphasized that boosting capacity of biomedical engineers is now highly intentional in view of the massive infrastructural development in the health sector under the present administration; citing the upliftment of standards in equipment and personnel in healthcare facilities across the country noting that the initiative is uplifting Nigeria to a medical tourism destination.
Representing the Director of Hospital Services Department (FMoHSW); Dame Francisca Okafor, Director of Regulatory and Professional Schools Division, reiterated that the workshop was a strategic initiative by the Ministry to strengthen the maintenance and performance of medical equipment, ensuring that health sector investments by the present administration deliver sustainable results for the benefit of Nigerians.
Also speaking the CBET Registrar, Dr. Kennedy Ejeta emphasized that the training is designed to equip biomedical engineers with cutting-edge skills that will not only drive innovation in healthcare, preparing hospitals for future challenges but would also foster collaboration and enhance service delivery across the country’s healthcare sector.
According to a statement by the Ministry’s Head of Information and Public Relations, Ado Bako, the workshop aims to equip biomedical engineers with hands-on skills to reduce equipment downtime, promote cost-effective maintenance, and drive local innovations with participants expected to become change agents in their various institutions.
