A medicine expert has decried the scarcity of cadavers for the study of anatomy and practical classes in medical schools in Nigeria.
Prof Moyosore Salihu Ajao, a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Ilorin raised the issue while delivering the 214th Inaugural Lecture of the university.
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The Professor of medicine emphasised that the challenge is more difficult because dead bodies are not sold in the market in any part of the world.
“The first major challenge I noticed on my assumption of office as a young lecturer in the department of anatomy was the chronic shortages of cadavers in the department and after a quick check on other universities, I discovered that we are not alone in the struggle to get bodies fit enough for dissection at practicals.
“The National Universities Commission recommends an average of eight students per body in Nigeria,” the scholar said.
He explained that the study of human anatomy cannot be fully understood from written descriptions of dimensional pictures or plastic models.
Prof. Ajao, citing one of his investigations, explained that there are different causes of scarcity in the Nigerian Medical Institutions which reflects a poor ratio of students to cadavers during the studies in medical schools in Nigeria.
Despite the lack of materials for the study of medicine, Professor Ajao said there is increasing pressure to produce more doctors in Nigeria.
”The pressure to produce more doctors keep mounting every year while the provision of facilities including cadaver supplies are limited in the country,” Prof Ajao said.
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