One Yr Anniversary: Our dream is to make SUMAS a leading Institution for Medical and Applied Sciences education – VC

The Vice Chancellor of the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences, SUMAS,  Igbo-Eno, Enugu State, Prof. James Ogbonna, Friday, said that the dream of the Institution is to become top notch in teaching Medical and Applied Sciences in Nigeria.

Prof. Ogbonna, said that the University, which was established by the Enugu State Government under the administration of the former Governor of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, in 2022,  has the requisite manpower and infrastructure to dictate the pace in Medical and Applied Sciences education in the country.

He made the disclosure while briefing newsmen during the tour of facilities as part of the activities marking the one year anniversary of the University.

He further appreciated the Governor of Enugu State, Barr, Peter Mbah, the Pro-chancellor of the University, Monsignor Obiora Ike, the Management, Staff and students of the University for their supports.

He further said that with ultramodern 120-bedded Medical Centre, the University has started giving quality medical services to Nsukka residents and the general public, adding that 23 programmes being run in the University passed the Resource Verification conducted by the National Universities Commission, NUC.

“To start from the scratch and get 23 programmes approved by the National Universities Commission, NUC, within a short period of about six weeks can be considered a miracle. We further got SUMAS registered in the JAMB admission portal by November 29th, 2022 and admitted a total of 819 students for the 2022/2023 academic session. …The speed with which academic activities took off in SUMAS can only be achieved with our team work, and support we got from both the Government, groups and individuals that believed in us and appreciated the importance of this great University. I sincerely appreciate all the people that helped in drawing up the curricular for the various programmes and coordinated the Resource Verification activities for the various programmes.

“State of Infrastructure

“Our first task was to furnish all the classrooms and lecture auditoriums in each Faculty. Each lecture auditorium has 300 sitting capacity while each classroom accommodates 120 students. Each of these classrooms was equipped with electronic interactive boards for effective lecture delivery which also enable students to have reviews after lectures. Solar light was also installed in the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, where most of the system-wide first year lectures take place, to ensure that grid power failure do not disrupt the use of these modern lecture facilities. Biometric lecture attendance device was also developed and implemented . Lecture attendance  are taken simply by students thumbprinting. This makes it possible to upload the attendance onto the University portal enabling parents and guardians to monitor the attendance of their wards to lectures from anywhere in the world,” he explained.

He further said that the University is equipped with 19 state-of-the-art laboratories, engineering workshops, drawing rooms, adding that a dissecting laboratory with 19 tables and anatomy museum with various dummies were constructed for human anatomy programme. He also said that the University has a cadaver house with five cadaver tanks and an embalming room.

He equally said that the University was equipped with 100 computers , strong internet connectivity powered by a strong university-wide fiber backbone and subscription to e-reading materials, including books and journals.

He further explained that the University furnished two hostels with 900 bed spaces and reading tables for the students habitation, adding that each of the hostels is solar-powered  to ensure 24 hours power supply.

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“Furthermore, each hostel has a dedicated industrial borehole and a standby power supply, ensuring round-the-clock availability of water. Internet radios have been installed in all strategic positions in the hostels to ensure that students can access internet services from the comfort of their rooms,” he said.

He also said that the University has steady power  and water supply, while the offices are covered by radios to ensure fast internet connectivity.

Other principal officers of the University who conducted newsmen round the facilities in the Institution include the Registrar, Anselem Onah; the Bursar, Dr. Ozoadibe Emeka; the Librarian, Dr. Monica Eze; and Deans of Faculties in the University.