Commendations Trail UNIOSUN Medical Students’ Return From Ukraine

By Ismaeel Uthman

The return of 35 of the 85 medical students of the Osun State University who were sent to Ukraine University for medical studies by Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration has continued to attract commendations from the beneficiaries, their parents and unbiased well-wishers.

They returned home after graduating from the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkov, Ukraine and certified as medical doctors.

About 15 of the medical students stayed back in Ukraine for future pursuit.

It would be recalled that 50 of the 85 UNIOSUN students recently graduated and were inducted as qualified medical doctors after passing the 2017 KROK 2 Ukraine National Medical Exams June this year.

The UNIOSUN students were sent to Ukraine by the Aregbesola’s administration to complete their medical studies in Ukraine in 2013 as a result of non-availability of teaching hospital for their clinical studies in furtherance of their studies here.

One of the medical students, Miss Latifat Abiola Oyeleye was declared the overall best medical student of the Karazin Kharkiv National University as well as the 2017 overall best students in the university with an outstanding score of 95.6% in KROK 2 Exams.

Receiving the young doctors at the Government House, Osogbo on Sunday, Aregbesola welcomed them and urged them to let their skills, knowledge and education speak for them.

Aregbesola explained that sending the students to Ukraine was not about nationalism but about justice and fairness, stating that the students were admitted for medicine and it behoved the university and government to fulfill their obligations.

He said: “We had advertised the medical course and admitted the students, it is the obligation of the government to see the students through the program. Human being will only succeed when he upholds justice and fairness. So, what informed our decision on these students is justice and fairness.

The Governor urged the young doctors to be professional, humane and godly in discharging their duties in hospitals and everywhere they find themselves.

He implored the newly graduated medical doctors to maintain the virtues which made them excel in Ukraine, encouraging them to always put their patients first in discharging of their duties.

The governor said, “We are celebrating with you today, but it will be good of you if you stick to those virtues that made you successful in Ukraine by being compassionate towards your patients at all times.

“We are proud of you on your achievements and I believe you have just started, you must strive to reach the peak of profession as medical doctors. You should be compassionate towards your patients at all times.”

The Deputy Governor of the State, Mrs Grace Titi-Laoye Tomori and the Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology, Engr. Remi Omowaiye who were involved in the process of getting the students complete their clinical training, said the students were stranded as a resort of non-availability of the teaching hospital.

They explained that no university in Nigeria was ready to accept the students for clinical training because they could not go out of the stipulated number of medical students.

V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, according to the Deputy Governor and Omowaiye, was the best university for the state government to send the UNIOSUN students to, as it was the only university that was ready to take the students with reasonable, affordable financial and logistics demands.

In their remarks, the students attributed their academic success to Aregbesola’s commitment to promoting functional education and concern on their plights when they were stranded in UNIOSUN.

They promised to embark on service to humanity and give back to the community, particularly Osun state in appreciation of their free medical studies.

Oyeleye, the overall best students said: “I am one of the beneficiaries of Aregbesola’s gesture, I am one of the 85 medical students sponsored by his administration to one of the best universities in the world.

“We have studied and graduated. We thank God that today, we have been made medical doctors through the support of Osun Government. It is a dream come true for me and my family.

“Osun Government has made history through this, Governor Aregbesola has done excellently well in our lives to attain this giant feat in academic because if not for him, we might not be celebrated like this today.”

Another beneficiary, Dr. Oluwasayo Motunrayo said, “I will forever be grateful to Aregbesola for making our dreams come to pass. He has done well to ensure that we did not fail in meeting up with our medical career in life.”

Ezekoye Maria, an indigene of Anambra state, who is part of the medical students, said: “We had lost hope when there was no teaching hospital to proceed to for our medical studies at UNIOSUN, we were all stranded.

“But Governor Aregbesola restored our hope, he made us realise our dreams by sending us to one of the best universities in Ukraine for medical studies free of charge. Today, we are certified medical doctors. We are all proud of Osun government.