The Governor of Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, to train critical manpower for the newly established Bayelsa State University of Medical Sciences, Yenagoa.

The agreement also involved the training of the requisite medical personnel for the faculties of the Bayelsa State University of Medical Sciences.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said in a statement on Thursday that, the crucial agreement was signed by Governor Dickson and Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, the 18th President of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, United States.

Dickson said that, the Louisville University would also serve as a guide to set up the Goldcoast Dickson Cancer Centre in Bayelsa State to provide effective cancer treatment to Nigerians.

He stressed that, Nigeria was yet to have a functional cancer centre to deal with the growing cases of cancer-related deaths in the country.

He said that, it was the desire of the Bayelsa State Government to be the first to provide the urgently needed services, which many people could not afford, through effective collaborative efforts with the University of Louisville and the Brown Cancer Centre.

The Governor said that, by the agreement, higher institutions in Bayelsa and the University of Louisville would collaborate in academic exchange programmes and expansion of knowledge in Africa.

“Part of what we will sign today is a collaboration to enable your institution mentor and guide us in the setting up of the Goldcoast Dickson Cancer Centre as there is no functional and efficient cancer in my country.

“We want to be the first to provide these services to a whole lot of people who do not have access to care due to cost-related reasons. We want to work with the University of Louisville and the Brown Cancer Centre to put that on ground in my community.

“The partnership we are her to formalise would cater for training of students who we intend to send to you and it will also cover exchange faculty programmes between your institution and the Bayelsa Medical University.

“We will generally like your institution to mentor and guide the universities which include the Bayelsa Medical University and the University of Africa's Centre for Disease Control.

“The University of Louisville and our higher institutions in Bayelsa State will become one big family, expanding the frontiers of knowledge and service to our people the world over, especially in Africa,” he said.

Speaking also, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, said that the State Government would have the opportunity to train 15 students to PhD level in Public Health, in addition to other short courses considered critical for the power needs of Bayelsa State.

The commissioner stated further that, a team from the US institution would also visit Bayelsa State in the bid to ensure that, the state medical university would have an international component.

In her remarks, the 18th President of the University of Louisville, Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, who signed the agreement, commended the governor for the vision for the firm take off of the medical university.

She assured the governor of the commitment of her team to the actualisation of the laudable vision to provide better and affordable healthcare to the people of Bayelsa.

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