By Chioma Umeha
One of the world’s leading medical faculties and
university clinics, Hamburg-based Universitätskrankenhaus Eppendorf (UKE) has
concluded plans to be the major partner in executing the proposed Thompson
& Grace Medical University and Hospitals in Nigeria.
To this effect, Thompson & Grace Group,
proprietors of Thompson & Grace Medical City (TGMC) and Thompson &
Grace Medical University (TGMU), Nigeria will hold a one-week meeting with a
team of high ranking medical experts from Germany.
The purpose of the visit is to get a perspective
on how Education, Health, and Medicine can be transformed to benefit Nigeria
and Africa.
The highpoint of the meeting is the signing
ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Thompson & Grace
Investments Limited (T&GIL) and the University Clinic of Hamburg (UKE),
Germany on tomorrow, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The agreement shall set the frame for a close
collaboration between the two signing entities in the planning, building and
managing of both the Thompson & Grace Medical University and the Thompson
& Grace Hospital.
The delegation coming from Germany consists of
Prof. Uwe Koch-Gromus, Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of
Hamburg; Prof. Ansgar Lohse, Vice-Dean and Director of the University Clinic of
Hamburg (UKE); and Prof. Frank Riedel, one of Europe’s most acknowledged
pediatricians and for more than two decades, Medical Director of Hamburg’s
University Clinic’s Children’s Hospital.
The three experts would be joined by project
consultants from Germany and the U.S.
Dr. Isaac Thompson Amos will lead the Thompson
& Grace Group team to sign the MOU.
On arrival to Nigeria, the team will be welcomed
by the Ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck, Ambassador of Germany in Abuja, Nigeria
who will also hold a briefing session on both the project of Thompson &
Grace Medical City and the bilateral collaboration.
The German Government represented by the Federal
Ministry for Economic Development and Collaboration is supporting the project
through technical and organisational advice.
In Abuja, Uyo and other region of Akwa Ibom, the
delegation will visit several hospitals to witness how healthcare is set up and
delivered in the country and to understand issues affecting the advancement of
Nigerian healthcare.
Furthermore, during a one-day workshop, the German
experts will discuss their assessment with members of the Nigerian and
West-African Healthcare Community, local and multinational corporate
representatives, and community leaders.
This conference will be held at Le Méridien Ibom
Hotel & Golf Resorts, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State.
The delegation will round-up its assignments with
courtesy calls on the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, and the
Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel.
