The Benue State University College of Health Sciences (BSUCHS) has been granted full accreditation by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN. This followed the visit to the University Teaching Hospital last Wednesday by the MDCN. The council had visited the Hospital in June and given the management a six-month ultimatum to meet certain requirements and invite it back for accreditation. Students had protested and were at home up to the time of the visit.
As the news of the accreditation trickled in, the medical students’ facebook page came awash with reactions from the students. The President of the Benue State University Medical Students Association, BESUMSA, Kawen Pededo who made the all-important post explained its significance. “It means we now have something that will take us up to graduation,” his post said.
Following the development, the College was opened on Monday and students moved into the hostels. Addressing them on Tuesday, the Provost of the College and Professor of Surgery, Shima Gyoh, blamed the delay in getting accreditation on a number of factors which include poor design of the Teaching Hospital and admission of students when the hospital was not in ready.